


Smoke, Skin, and Champagne

by recklessweightless



Category: Degrassi, Degrassi the Next Generation, Degrassi: Next Class
Genre: Abuse, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Burlesque Club, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Stripper/Exotic Dancer, Chronic Illness, Drug Addiction, Future Fic, Homophobia, Multi, Past Abuse, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-05-20 06:48:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5995540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/recklessweightless/pseuds/recklessweightless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tristan Milligan is the owner and proprietor of a burlesque and exotic dance club. Grace Cardinal and Zoe Rivas are two of his dancers. And Miles Hollingsworth III is a rich CEO and a regular customer. When Grace and Zoe bond and become each other's closest friend, Grace develops a (possibly) unrequited crush on Zoe and all kinds of trouble gets stirred up. Meanwhile, Miles keeps flirting with Tristan. But is it just for fun, or are there deeper feelings hiding behind it?<br/>Feelings get complicated. Especially when messy pasts, secrets, lies, and emotional scars are involved.<br/>(exotic dancer/burlesque AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Girl meets girl

**Author's Note:**

> This may be a disaster... or a work of art. Either way, we'll find out!  
> Thanks to [xxthe-legacyxx](http://xxthe-legacyxx.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr for giving me the prompt for this story and encouraging me to work on it! This is for you.

She walked into the crowded and smoke-filled club, music pounding and lights flashing and beautiful women dancing on a stage in front of her. She pushed dark hair away from her face, took in a deep breath and headed towards backstage.

This was only her second time in this place, and yet she was about to expose herself to everyone in the room. She had to bite her lip and clench her fists to keep from shaking.

 _It’s gonna be fine._ She tried to assure herself as she breached the red curtain separating the audience from the dressing rooms. _It could be a lot worse, you know that. It’s not a big deal._

As much as she repeated these words, she still questioned them. She walked into a dressing room filled with a group of girls in varying stages of dress and headed to where her new boss told her she would find her clothing (or lack thereof) for the night.

On her path to the clothing rack, she kept her eyes cast down and looking at the floor, not sure where else to look or if looking at the other dancers was okay or what. However, this turned out to be a mistake when she found herself colliding with another body and almost falling over into a mirror.

“I’m so sorry,” she sputtered out, still not looking up. She was obviously not in top form here.

She felt hands on her shoulders, steadying her, and finally looked up to see who she ran in to.

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re fine,” the girl replied with a small giggle and a shake of her head.

That’s when they locked eyes and the nervous girl was staring at deep brown eyes, smooth tan skin, curled brown hair, and sweet little lips cocked to the side with an amused smile.

“First day, right?” she asked, smile still set firmly.

The other girl nodded slowly, trying to tear her gaze away from the beautiful galaxy in those eyes and then noticed that she was wearing a thin robe with a tight black corset underneath and decided the eyes would be safer.

“I’m Zoe,” the beautiful goddess said, still smiling and finally pulling her hands away from the other girl’s shoulders and holding one out to shake.

The new girl stuck out her hand as well and grabbed onto to Zoe’s, shaking it quickly then pulling back awkwardly all within the course of a couple seconds.

“Grace,” she muttered, looking down at the floor again.

“Nice to meet you,” Zoe said. “And look, I know this is probably weird, especially starting out, but it’s not as bad as it seems.”

She paused and walked to the clothing rack, pulling Grace’s outfit off and handing it over.

“I mean, yeah, it feels a bit awkward at first, but the good thing about this place is it’s also burlesque dancing, so we never strip down completely. And we all look out for each other.”

Zoe turned to an empty mirror and started smoothing red lipstick across her lips as she continued talking.

“And it helps that our boss is ridiculously gay.”

At that, Grace finally cracked a smile and let out a breath.

Zoe turned around again and smiled gently at her.

“Now you should get dressed,” she said, nodding to the hanger in Grace’s hand. “We go on soon.”

Grace nodded and glanced around the room, finding an area in the back corner filled with more clothing racks, these covered with every day clothes, and went back there to change and leave her clothes with the others.

After she was changed into a corset similar to Zoe’s, a short and lose flowing skirt with a thong underneath, fishnets, garters, and heels, she walked back over to Zoe, tugging awkwardly at her clothing.

When Zoe turned to face her, she smiled and looked Grace up and down quickly.

“You look great,” she said, with the smallest hint of a flirting tone slipping through.

Grace smiled uncomfortably, pulling at her skirt and Zoe gave her a light and encouraging smile and grabbed her by the hand, pulling her to an empty stool in front of a mirror.

She gestured for Grace to sit down then took a seat in a stool across from her.

“Let me do your make-up. Tomorrow, I can help you do it yourself, but it might be easier for you if I handle it tonight.”

Grace gave a small nod and Zoe picked up foundation from the table beside her and began working on Grace’s make-up.

Grace clenched her fists and held her breath as the other girl leaned in closer to her, so close that their faces were almost touching, and tried to suppress the goosebumps threatening to rise up on her skin as Zoe’s fingertips grazed her cheeks when she moved the brush across her skin.

Grace let out her breath as Zoe pulled away and turned to grab an eye shadow pallet then sucked it right back in when there was a face close to hers again.

“So, what brings you here?” Zoe asked casually as she smoothed colors across Grace’s eyes. Her breath smelled like mint and when she moved, her hair let out scents of lavender and vanilla. “I mean, not trying to imply we all have some desperate, pathetic excuse for taking this job. Me, I just like dancing, performing, and showing everyone that I’m hot. But everyone has a reason.”

Grace scratched at her palm uncomfortably and tried not to let it show in her face.

“I mean, I guess I’ve always been decent at dancing. I took some classes when I was younger. And I needed money.” She paused awkwardly for a minute and tried to figure out how to phrase it without sounding desperate or revealing too much information. “I just… have a lot of things to juggle and minimum wage doesn’t cut it.”

She laughed lightly, trying to sound more nonchalant about it than she felt, as Zoe continued to work.

“You don’t have to feel bad, you know,” she replied, still in close proximity with Grace’s face. “It’s totally fine to take this job for the money. As long as it never makes you hate yourself. No money is worth that.”

She pulled away, her soft features settling into a smile again, and brushed a bit of Grace’s nearly black hair behind her shoulder.

Just from those few words, Grace felt herself relax and she gave Zoe a smile in return.

“There,” Zoe said lightly, examining her work. “You just need some lipstick and it’ll be perfect.”

She picked up a tube of said lipstick from the table and handed it to Grace.

“There’s q-tips right there so we can all share lipstick without sharing germs.”

Zoe stood up and smiled down at Grace as she picked up a q-tip and began applying the lipstick in the mirror.

“Hey Grace?”

Grace glanced behind her shoulder to Zoe and said, “Yeah?”

“Promise me that if you ever feel bad about yourself for working here, you’ll quit. Like I said, it’s never worth it. I’ve seen girls who hated it keep going just for the money and they were miserable. You’re better than that.”

Grace paused, trying to process those words, before nodded slowly.

“Deal.”

Less than a minute later, all of the girls turned to face the exit as they heard a voice sounding throughout the club.

“Now presenting your entertainment for the night…”

“Come on, Grace, that’s our cue.”

Zoe grabbed Grace by the hand and pulled her up into the group of girls organizing themselves into two lines behind the curtain.

The voice continued, “Our lovely ladies exotic dancers!”

Grace let out a breath and followed the group out, the pounding music filling her head and slipping through her bloodstream.

And night one officially began.


	2. Boy meets boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick PSA for this story in general. This is largely just a fun story, but since it's technically dealing with an element of sex work, I'm not gonna ignore the levels of that. And the truth is, this kind of work is super empowering for some and harmful for others and I'm not gonna ignore that. It won't be bad for any of these characters, but there will still be mentions and acknowledgements of that so yeah. It'll mostly be lighter, but I can never ignore serious shit. Sorry haha.

As the girls finished up the show for the night, the lights faded along with the music and the curtain closed. Tristan let out a breath of air from his spot at the back of the club and stood to go talk to the girls.

He started walking across the floor as the majority of the customers filtered out, most of them wasted. However, there was one who seemed to have no interest in moving, seated at the best table with a bottle of expensive liquor in front of him and smoking a cigar.

This definitely wasn’t the first time Tristan had seen this guy here, but this time was a bit different. Because this time, his eyes were following Tristan as he walked, a smirk placed on his lips.

Tristan stopped in the middle of the room and locked eyes with the young man, an eyebrow cocked in almost a challenge.

He quickly raised both of his brows and returned the challenge, smirk still present, until Tristan walked towards the table.

“Would you like something?” Tristan asked, placing both hands on the table and leaning his weight onto it.

“Just trying to get your attention,” he replied, putting out the end of his cigar in an ashtray next to him.

Tristan raised his eyebrow again and pulled his hands off of the table.

“And why’s that?”

He shrugged and very clearly raked his eyes over Tristan’s entire body, from head to toe and back up.

“Maybe I just wanted to thank the owner of my favorite weekend spot. Or maybe I like what I see.”

His smirk grew a bit bigger as Tristan looked at him skeptically.

“Listen… Miles, right? Just because you buy the most expensive drinks in the place and always leave great tips for my girls, doesn’t mean you have any pull with me. I read the magazines and follow the news. You’re an asshole.”

Miles laughed and took a sip from a glass filled to the brim with alcohol and made eye contact with Tristan again.

“I’m the asshole? Which one of us is running a strip club?”

Tristan bit his lip and tried to shove down the urges to punch this arrogant man in the face and instead, leaned back onto the table and closer to Miles’s face.

“A club where I interview every girl carefully to make sure they’ll be okay taking the job and I do everything possible to make sure they’re okay and I kick out anyone who says even one wrong thing to them and practically ban them if they touch one of my girls. I do everything possible to keep them safe.”

He leaned away again and let out a breath before looking back at Miles.

“Besides, you’re the one who spends every weekend in a strip club.”

Miles picked up his glass, taking another swig, then started to swirl it around his hand, obviously trying to look as nonchalant as possible.

“Who said I was here for the show?” He said, looking back at Tristan with his smirk again. “Maybe I’ve just been waiting to get an audience with the owner.”

Tristan let out a quick, almost spiteful laugh.

“We both know that’s bullshit. You sit back here every week basically drooling and probably getting yourself off under the table.”

Miles kept up the smirk as he took another sip from his glass then stood up and took a step towards the slightly shorter man.

“Firstly, I would never defile your spotless floor with cum. Secondly, maybe I do enjoy the show. Doesn’t mean I wasn’t looking to spend time with you too.”

Tristan rolled his eyes and turned to continue walking towards backstage.

“Whatever. I’m tired of this conversation. We’re closed, go home.”

Miles laughed to the back of Tristan’s head.

“Fine, I’ll go.” He took a few steps forward until Tristan felt warm breath on his neck that raised goosebumps all over his body. “But I have a question first.”

He leaned his lips in a bit closer until they were almost brushing Tristan’s ear.

“Are you as tight as you seem? Because I’m sure I could help…loosen you up.”

He then reached out a hand and brushed it across Tristan’s wrist, so lightly that he could barely feel it, then stepped back again. Tristan turned his head around to follow his movements, wearing an expression of confusion mixed with interest.

“Goodnight,” Miles said, his smirk returning. “See you next week.”

With that, he set his glass down on the table he was sitting at, then turned and walked out of the club.

As soon as he was gone, Tristan turned back to face the curtain blocking off the dressing room and shook his head almost as if trying to shake off what just happened, then continued to head towards his destination.

When he reached the curtain, he knocked lightly on the door frame.

“Everybody good?” he called out and heard several affirmative replies, so he walked into the room.

Inside, all of the girls were either sitting or standing around, wiping off make-up and talking to each other, either in robes or regular clothes.

A few them called out “hey Tristan” as he took a seat on a chair by the door.

“Hello ladies. Tips are separated out and on the bar, so you guys can get them when you leave. Was everything okay tonight?”

A few of them nodded as Zoe walked over to him and smiled.

“You didn’t tell us you hired a new girl,” she said, pointing to Grace, who was sitting alone in the corner and looking a bit awkward.

“Well, it was a bit last minute. And you found out for yourself, didn’t you?”

He gave Zoe a teasing smile and she stuck her tongue out at him and poked at his shoulder a few times.

“Oh shut up,” she said, continuing the teasing.

Tristan started slapping at her hands in the air and edged her out of the way so he could see Grace clearly.

“So Grace, how are you doing?”

Grace smiled a tiny, not completely convincing smile, and said, “I’m okay.”

Tristan raised an eyebrow, then stood up and walked a bit closer to her.

“Are you sure? Seriously, tell me if anything’s wrong and I’ll do what I can to help.”

She looked at him and smiled a bit more confidently.

“No, I’m okay really. It was just a bit weird. Not necessarily bad… just weird.”

Tristan laughed a little and reached a hand out to Grace. She took it and he pulled her up, then pulled her into a quick hug.

“As long as you’re okay,” he said, smiling softly at her.

That’s when Zoe walked closer to the two of them and smiled at Grace.

“Besides, it’s always a bit weird at first,” she said. “You’ll get used it. Eventually, it gets to where you just forget anyone is even watching and get lost in the dancing. Then it’s fun.”

Grace smiled at Zoe and nodded a little.

“You guys are surprisingly cool.”

 Zoe took a step back and put a hand over her heart with a faux offended look on her face.

“Surprisingly? You mean you didn’t think we would be the coolest people in the world?”

Grace laughed and took a step closer to Zoe, then grabbed her hand.

“Sorry, of course I did. I thought you would be the coolest people ever and I was obviously right.”

Zoe smiled and spun herself ballroom-style under Grace’s arm, still holding onto her hand and Tristan looked on with an amused smile on his face then took a few steps back, holding his hands up in the air next to his face.

“I’ll get out of the little moment you two are having.”

Zoe pulled her hand away from the other girl’s and they both looked down at the floor awkwardly, avoiding each other’s eyes.

“If everyone’s good, I’m gonna go help get the place cleaned up.”

A few the girls nodded or waved at him, and he turned and walked towards the exit.

“Goodnight girls.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [I'm lonely talk to me.](http://whirlwindsofdisaster.tumblr.com)


	3. Dance Lessons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick thanks to AmethystBeloved for sparking the idea for this chapter. Hope it lives up your expectations.

A couple weeks passed with Grace working at the club and every night, she loosened up and got a bit more comfortable, along with becoming at least acquaintances with the other girls.

Except Zoe. When the girls would go out to eat or get drinks after work, half the time Zoe and Grace would join them, but the rest of the time, they would go off together to a 24 hour diner and stay there for hours talking.

In the course of two weeks, they basically became best friends and were completely comfortable around each other.

Also, in those two weeks, Miles had shown up to club as usual, spending his weekends there, but would purposely slip out before Tristan would leave his office so they never interacted.

Every time Tristan would watch Miles rushing out as soon as the lights came up, he would laugh to himself. _Guess he just wanted to see if he could get a rise out of gay boy,_ he would think.

So Tristan moved on and pretended their conversation never happened. Besides, Miles was an asshole. A very attractive asshole with well-styled hair and a ridiculously toned body, but still an asshole.

Saturday night, exactly two weeks after that conversation, Tristan went into the club and unlocked the back door for the dancers and started to get everything ready for the night.

Shortly after that, Zoe walked in with Grace right behind her. They were talking and laughing, basically paying attention to nothing but each other, when Tristan cleared his throat to get their attention.

They both stopped and finally looked over at him.

“Are you two joined at the hip or something?” he asked with an amused smirk.

“Are you 50 years old?” Zoe asked, walking past him and to the bar. “Because I’m pretty sure you have to be to use that expression.”

 She poured herself a glass of wine and leaned the bottle in Grace’s direction, but the other girl shook her head and Zoe turned her attention back to Tristan.

Tristan sighed and shook his head at her, trying to hide his small smile, and grabbed the bottle of wine from her hand.

“Careful, Zo. It probably wouldn’t be the best idea to drink too much before work. I doubt you want to fall off the stage.”

Zoe let out a sigh and took the bottle back, setting it on the bar.

“I’m only having this glass, Tris, it’s fine.”

Tristan sighed and took a step back.

“Okay, okay,” he said. “I’m gonna go finish getting the place ready. Grace, watch her.”

Grace laughed and gave Tristan a mock salute as he walked away.

As soon as he was gone, Grace turned to look at Zoe, her face getting more serious.

“Why was Tristan worried about you drinking more?” she asked, trying to make it sound as casual as possible, even though she felt worry bubbling up in her gut.

Zoe took another sip from her glass and shrugged her shoulders, even though she knew exactly why.

“It’s complicated. Don’t worry about it.”

Grace looked at Zoe with a frown.

“You can’t tell me not to worry about it and really expect that to work.”

Zoe sighed and set the glass down on the bar.

“Look, Tristan and I have known each other since high school. He knows basically everything about me and he’s like my best friend. He just worries. It’s not a big deal.”

The other girl sighed too and leaned her arms on the bar, still not satisfied but choosing to drop it.

They both sat there in slightly awkward silence for a minute, Grace staring at the bar top and Zoe finishing the last sips of her wine, until Zoe cleared her throat and broke it.

“So I’ve been thinking…why don’t you come over tomorrow? We’ve only hung out at diners and coffee shops so it’d be a nice change.”

Grace looked up at her, trying not to let her mouth fall open, then quickly recovered and smiled a teasing smile.

“Zoe Rivas, are you trying to ‘Netflix and chill’ with me?” Grace asked, using actual air quotes around Netflix and chill.

“Grace Cardinal, did you actually just use air quotes?”

Grace smiled and playfully slapped at Zoe’s arm and Zoe returned the gesture until they were having an awkward slap fight across the bar.

“Just answer the question,” Zoe said, finally pulling her hands away.

Grace smiled at the other girl and placed her elbows on the bar and her face in her hands.

“I guess I could come over. Just don’t try any funny business, Ms. Rivas.”

Zoe laughed and mirrored Grace’s position.

“Never. I’ll be a perfect gentlewoman.”

They made eye contact and stayed there staring at each other for a few minutes, both of their smiles growing a bit every now and then. Despite what she said, looking into Zoe’s eyes, Grace couldn’t stop thinking about how much she actually wanted Zoe to make a move.

 

The next day, Zoe texted Grace her address and around noon, Grace was on the way there. She pulled up in front of a nice looking apartment building and parked, then headed inside, taking the elevator up to the correct floor. When she reached Zoe’s door, she knocked, awkwardly glancing around the hall and shuffling on her feet, trying to get out her nervousness before Zoe saw her.

After a minute, Zoe swung the door open and smiled at Grace.

“Hey,” she said, moving out of the way so the other girl could move past her. “Come on in.”

Grace walked past her, still feeling pretty uncomfortable, and started taking in the place around her.

It was a pretty decent sized loft, filled with spotless furniture, a big flat screen, and a bunch of expensive-looking decorations and knick-knacks.

“Nice place,” Grace said finally, turning her attention back to Zoe.

“Thanks,” the other girl replied, walking across the room and taking a seat on the couch. “You can sit, you know.”

Grace walked over and took a seat on the opposite side of the couch, careful to make sure she didn’t brush up against Zoe at all.

“I wasn’t sure, considering nothing in this place looks like it’s even been touched.”

Zoe laughed and relaxed back into her seat.

“What can I say, my cleaning lady is really good at her job.”

Grace turned to face her then, raising an eyebrow.

“You have a cleaning lady? Were you planning on telling me you were rich?”

Zoe rolled her eyes. “I’m not rich. I’m… well off.”

“That’s rich,” Grace replied with a flat tone.

“Fine, so I’m little rich. I was an actress when I was younger.”

Grace pulled a leg up underneath her and turned so she was sitting sideways on the couch, facing Zoe.

“Okay, this is an interesting development. I wanna hear this story.”

Zoe sighed and copied Grace’s position.

“It’s not much of a story. I did commercials when I was little and when I was around 13, I started working on West Drive.”

“And what is West Drive?”  
“A TV show… wait you’ve seriously never heard of West Drive?”

Grace shook her head and waited for Zoe to continue.

“It’s basically a teen soap opera.”

“Hence why I’ve never heard of it.”

“What, are you too cool or something.”  
“Yes, I’m way too cool.”

Grace held a straight face for a minute before her and Zoe both started laughing. Once they recovered, Zoe continued on.

“Anyway… My mom saved a lot of my salary from the show. I did a few small movie roles too, which were a lot less, but still saved. And I had one supporting role in an indie film, which was probably the smallest salary of all but definitely the most fun.” She paused for a minute, looking like she was getting lost in her head. “My mom was so pissed that I took that job. There wasn’t enough money for her to justify taking some of.”

“Wait, your mom took some of what you earned?”

“Yep. About half of every paycheck. She worked, but she did party planning. And by that, I mean she would plan like two parties a year. She never wanted to do any real work, not when she had a famous daughter she could steal from.”

They both went silent for a minute, Zoe giving a bitter expression to the ceiling and Grace studying her face a bit awkwardly.

“But she saved enough that I could afford this place. And I subsidize it with my current line of work.”

She flipped her hair and smiled at Grace, who just laughed in return and shook her head.

“So, you’re a child star turned stripper? Could you be any more of a cliché?”

Zoe lightly slapped at Grace’s shoulder and gave an over-dramatic offended expression.

“Ouch! And technically I could… I could be a porn star.”

They both started laughing again until Grace let her head fall on the back of the couch and sighed.

“So how did you end up with this job, anyway?” Grace asked, staring at the ceiling with an overly fancy silver light fixture hanging from it.

“Like I said, I’ve known Tristan since high school. When he took over the club, he asked me if I wanted to work there. He knew I could dance and I was looking for a job after graduation, so I said sure. If it were some random place, I probably wouldn’t have ended up doing it. But it was Tristan, so I knew I wouldn’t get hurt and I figured it would just be fun.”

“And now you get to live in a fancy loft.”

Zoe laughed a little, then laid her head on the back of the couch too. They were quiet for a minute before Grace spoke again.  
“So what was your game plan for today?”

Zoe shrugged.

“We could watch a movie or listen to music…” She trailed off, then under her breath, added on, “Help your dancing look less like an injured horse…”

Grace sat up and gave Zoe an offended look this time.

“Excuse you? What was that about my dancing?”

Zoe laughed and stood up, walking in front of Grace.

“Pretty sure you heard me.”

“My dancing is fine, thank you.”

“Oh okay. So fine is clopping around like a baby goat?”

Grace stood up then, putting her and Zoe inches apart.

“Okay, if you’re so much better than me, prove it.”

Zoe smiled and took a step back, winking at Grace before turning away. She walked over to the bookshelf and plugged her phone into speakers, then played one of the songs they normally danced to at the club.

“Just watch and learn, sweetheart.”

Grace sat back down on the couch and bit down on her bottom lip when Zoe turned away and started moving her hips. _This isn’t happening. There is no way this is happening. Stay cool, Cardinal, just stay cool._

She tried to appear as relaxed as possible as Zoe turned towards her again, but thankfully, Zoe had her eyes closed, because Grace was failing at appearing cool.

Zoe kept dancing as the beat picked up, looking just like she did on stage at the club: relaxed, happy, and fucking beautiful.

Grace smiled at her from the couch, enjoying the chance to openly study her since Zoe wasn’t paying attention to anything but the music.

She watched her hips as the swung to the beat, back and forth and around in circles and her torso as she rolled her stomach and her hair as it swirled around her face and her lips that settled into an almost teasing smile. And all the guys that showed up to watch them every night suddenly made since to her. She wanted to do nothing but watch this goddess in front her move like this for the rest of her life. She wanted to touch her and feel her and… and she wanted to do a huge amount of unspeakably filthy things as well.

Zoe kept moving and Grace kept watching as that song faded into another similar sounding song and Zoe turned towards Grace, opened her eyes, and smirked at her.

Grace quickly tried to recover and look like she wasn’t staring at the other girl for the last 5 minutes, but Zoe didn’t appear to care either way.

She took a step towards Grace and Grace started to stand, but Zoe placed a hand in the middle of her collar bone and gently pushed her back onto the couch.

She then started dancing again, this time so close to Grace that they were almost touching. Nearly every time she would turn, she would lock eyes with Grace and give an almost devilish smile, like she knew how much the other girl was falling apart.

After dancing like that for about a minute or so, she stopped directly in front of Grace and locked eyes with her, then continued to dance in place, only moving her hips and holding eye contact.

She kept smiling and would occasionally brush Grace’s hair with her hand, and Grace stayed frozen, her eyes locked on Zoe’s and her mouth almost hanging open.

When the song finally came to end, Zoe stood up straight and took a step back from Grace, almost as if nothing even happened.

She walked across the room and retrieved her phone as Grace just let out a breath and fell back into the couch, her eyes drifting shut. Zoe then turned back to Grace with a bright smile.

“And that’s how you do it!”


	4. Business Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random statement, but I'm pretty sure this is the longest chapter I've ever written of anything ever. So go me I guess.

Later on Sunday evening, Tristan was at the club alone, sitting in his office and digging through paperwork. He was there in complete silence catching up on work he needed to get done for close to an hour when he heard a door opening and voices echoing through the building. That’s when he realized that he made the brilliant move of forgetting to lock the front door behind him.

He stood up and rushed down the stairs into the main room of the club to get whoever is was out and started to talk without looking.

“Sorry, we aren’t…”

When he saw who he was talking to, he stopped mid-sentence.

“Oh. Miles.”

He looked the other young man up and down with a glare, really not in the mood to deal with Miles’ blend of flirting and asshole comments.

“Nice to see you again too, Tristan,” the smug-looking guy replied.

“How’d you know my name?” Tristan asked him, raising one of his carefully shaped eyebrows.

“It just takes a little snooping in city records,” Miles shrugged. “Not a big deal.”

Tristan rolled his eyes.

“Not a big deal for the former mayor’s son, you mean.”

Miles just smirked as Tristan finally focused in on the awkward-looking Asian guy standing next to Miles and not making a sound.

“Oh, right. Tristan, this is my friend, Chewy.”

As Miles introduced him, the other guy rolled his eyes and looked at his friend with an annoyed expression.

“I’ve been telling you for 10 years now,” he said. “Stop calling me that. It’s Winston.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Miles continued, waving a dismissive hand in Winston’s direction. “Anyway, he’s about to get married and I was thinking about bringing him here for the bachelor party.”

“Okay, not that I would normally turn down business, but shouldn’t you find an actual strip club for that?”

At that point, Winston interjected.

“Wait, this isn’t a strip club?” he asked.

“Not really,” Tristan answered, shaking off his annoyed tone now that he wasn’t talking to Miles. “It’s somewhere between burlesque and exotic dancing, but it’s not exactly a strip club. You don’t see any more skin here then you do at the beach.”

“Then why did we come here, Miles? Isn’t a bachelor party supposed to celebrate my last night of freedom? Well, I want to celebrate that with boobs and lap dances.” He turned to Tristan then. “No offense.”

“None taken, trust.”

“Come on, Chewy, it was just an idea,” Miles said. “I mean, I like this place.”

After that, Miles turned towards Tristan and winked at him, earning an eye roll in reply.

“Well, idea rejected. Can we go find another place now?”

“Hold on, okay?” Miles said, waving a hand at Winston and turning back to Tristan.

Winston sighed and then headed towards the door to go wait for Miles outside.

“What do you want, Miles?” Tristan asked as soon as Winston was gone.

“No need to be so hostile,” he replied, holding his hands up in mock surrender. “Just had a question for you.”

“Fine, but can you hurry it up? I need to start getting the place ready for tonight.”

Miles nodded before continuing. “I have a business proposition for you and was wondering if you could come by my office tomorrow.”

“A business proposition? So that’s what you’re calling it now?”

The brunette sighed and shook his head, an amused smirk on his lips.

“Come on, Tris, I’m actually being serious for once.”

This time, Tristan sighed.

“Fine, I guess it won’t kill me.”

“Good.” Miles paused and pulled a card out of his pocket. “Here’s the address. Just come by anytime tomorrow afternoon.”

Tristan took the card and looked down at it skeptically.

“I’ll leave you alone now. Still gotta find a good spot for Chewy’s party.”

Miles turned and started walking towards the door, but stopped half way and turned to face Tristan.

“By the way, Tris, you look good.”

He smirked and winked at Tristan, then left before he had the chance to reply.

As Miles let the door swing shut behind him, Tristan shook his head and mumbled to himself.

“That guy is definitely trouble.”

 

About an hour after Miles left, Tristan had moved to the bar with some of his paperwork and most of the dancers had arrived and were mulling around the main room and the dressing room.

Shortly after she got there, Grace walked over to where Tristan was and took a seat next to him.

“Hi Grace,” Tristan said, not looking up from the paper.

“Oh, that’s all I get? Just a hi, not even a glance?”

Tristan sighed and looked up at her, smiling.

“Hello Grace, how are you this evening?”

Grace laughed and replied, “I’m lovely, thank you.”

Tristan rolled his eyes at her and looked down again, and the two of them fell into silence for a couple minutes.

Grace started to tap her fingers on the bar in no particular pattern and fidgeting her legs, causing Tristan to look up at her again with raised eyebrows.

“Was there something you wanted to talk about?” He asked with an amused smile playing at his lips.

“Kind of…not exactly…” she sighed. “I don’t know.”

At that, Tristan sat up straighter and set his stack of papers down on the bar out of sight, then crossed his legs and focused in on Grace.

“Just tell me, okay? I hear I’m a good listener.”

She sighed again and propped her elbow up on the bar.

“I guess I was just wondering… and I figured you’d be the best person to ask since you’ve known her since high school…”

“Grace! Just spit it out.”

“Okay fine. Do you happen to know if Zoe maybe…” She paused and let out the end of the sentence in a much quicker and quieter voice, “likes girls at all?”

Tristan bit his lip and tried but failed to not make it obvious that he was trying not to laugh.

“Do you have a crush Grace?”

Her face almost immediately turned red and she buried it in her hands and kicked at Tristan’s leg.

“No, shut up! I don’t have a crush on anyone, what are you talking about? You have a crush…”

She was blushing and babbling all over the place and Tristan couldn’t hold in his laughter anymore.

“Tristan, stop laughing! It’s not funny.” She pushed herself off the bar stool and stood up. “You know, I knew I shouldn’t have asked you, this was so stupid.”

Grace turned and got ready to walk away, but Tristan grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him again.

“Grace, relax. It wasn’t stupid. I was laughing at your reaction, not the question.”

She sighed and leaned again the bar next to Tristan.

“Fine, okay. So?”

“So she had a crush on a few girls in high school. But that’s all. She’s only dated guys and at this point, hasn’t dated anyone in a couple years.”

Grace nodded. “Okay, thanks.”

“Has she been flirting with you?” Tristan asked before Grace had the chance to start walking away.

“I don’t know. I mean, it could be flirting. But it could also be nothing. That’s kinda why I asked.”

Tristan shrugged.

“Sorry I couldn’t help more, but that’s all I can tell you. But here’s an idea. Why don’t you ask her?”

Grace made a face at him and lightly hit his shoulder.

“Thanks, genius.”

Tristan laughed and grabbed his stack of papers again, shrugging at Grace while he shuffled them together.

“Just thought I’d mention it,” he said, smiling over at her.

“Hey, what’s that?” Grace asked, reaching over Tristan’s arm and grabbing the business card stuck in with the rest of the papers.

“Oh that’s…” he started, but Grace was already reading it before he could finish. “Miles Hollingsworth’s card.”

“Miles Hollingsworth III,” she started reading out loud. “CEO, Troublemaker Games Inc. slash playboy millionaire.”

“It does not say that,” Tristan said, trying to read the card upside down.

“Oh but it does.”

She turned it around to face him and sure enough, there was a slash after his official title and then ‘playboy millionaire’ printed after it.

“Of course he would,” Tristan said, taking the card back and shaking his head.

“So what’s that all about?” Grace asked, gesturing to the card as Tristan set it down on the bar next to him.

“I don’t know. Miles showed up here earlier and told me he had a business proposition for me, whatever that means.”

Grace smirked at him.

“Blow jobs for pay? That’s sort of a business.”

“Oh my god, Grace!”

Tristan slapped at her arm as she broke down laughing at his reddening cheeks.

“I’m just kidding, Tris! But it’s pretty obvious he likes you. Anytime he’s here and you’re anywhere on the floor, his eyes follow you.”

“He just flirts to mess with me. He doesn’t actually like me. Besides, he’s not even gay.”

“But he might be bi. I’ve seen some stuff online, about him being spotted with guys out at fancy restaurants and stuff, and they did not look like business dinners.”

“Grace Cardinal following gossip?”

Grace sighed and slapped at him again.

“I don’t follow it. I just… browse occasionally.”

“Right. Keep telling yourself that.” Tristan paused and looked over the card again. “But I mean still, there’s no way he could actually like me. He has half of Toronto in love with him and I’m… well, you’ve seen me.”

“Oh my god, Tris, you’re adorable. Not exactly my type, considering the whole you’re a guy thing, but you’re definitely good looking. Besides, we repeat dances a lot and he still shows up every night. It can’t just be for us.”

Tristan sighed and started fiddling with the card again.

“Don’t you have to go get ready?”

Grace laughed and turned to start walking away.

“Okay, okay. Have fun at your business meeting slash date.”

He laughed and shook his head as Grace headed towards the dressing room, then picked up the card again, running over everything Grace said to him as he stared at it.

 

The next afternoon, Tristan found himself in the middle of downtown, staring up at an office building. He pulled the business card out of his back pocket and double-checked the address, seeing that he was standing in front of the right building. So, he took in a breath and walked inside.

After checking to see what floor Miles worked on, he took the elevator up to almost the top floor and it opened on a receptionist desk with the game company logo on the wall behind her.

Tristan walked up to the girl at the desk and she turned and smiled at him.

“Hello, sir. What can I help you with?” She asked him in a ridiculously cheery voice.

“I’m here to see Miles,” he answered, trying not to grimace as he said that name.

“Mr. Hollingsworth? Do you have an appointment?”

“No, but he told me to come by anytime.”

Suddenly, the girl’s face changed from confusion to a knowing smirk and she picked up the phone next to her.

“What’s your name?” She directed this question at him, smirk still present on her lips.

“Tristan…” he answered almost with a question mark at the end, not sure why she was giving him that look.

She nodded and pressed a button on the phone base then said, “Mr. Hollingsworth, there’s someone named Tristan here to see you.”

She went quiet for a minute then turned to Tristan again.

“His office is right through that door,” she said, pointing to the right of them. “You can go on in.”

“Okay… thank you.”

Tristan turned away from her and walked towards where she gestured. When he reached the door, he glanced over his shoulder and saw the receptionist giggling with another employee and sneaking glances at him. He shook his head and tried to ignore them as he opened the door.

Behind it was a hallway with a high ceiling and expensive looking carpet. One wall was a window and the other wall had a second hallway in the middle with offices on either side of it. At the end of the hallway was a set of double doors with Miles’ name on a plaque attached to one of them.

He reached those doors and paused, then decided to knock instead of just walking in. He tapped his fist against the wood a couple times and heard a voice call “come in” to him.

Tristan let out a deep breath and ran his fingers through his carefully messed up bleached hair before pushing open the door and walking forward.

Once he was inside the office, he stopped right in front of the doorway and studied his surroundings. The whole room was huge, way too big to be someone’s office, and the back wall was a window looking out over downtown. The two side walls were painted dark blue and one of them had a huge TV mounted on it with several gaming systems under it. The other wall had a bookshelf, the bottom shelves containing books that looked like they’d never been touched and the top shelves containing a mess of video games that were stacked haphazardly and were probably overused.

The floor was carpeted with the same plush carpet the hallway had and there was a wide couch in front of the TV. Near the bookshelf was a big oak desk covered with papers and useless little knick-knacks. Behind the desk in an office chair was Miles with his feet propped up on the desk and throwing a baseball up in the air.

When Miles noticed Tristan, he set the ball on the desk and stood up, spreading his arms out and smiling.

“Hey Tris, you showed up!”

“Well, curiosity got the better of me, I guess.”

Miles continued smiling and walked out from behind his desk and closer to Tristan.

Tristan almost had to catch his breath when Miles was standing in front of him. When Miles showed up at the club, he was usually wearing somewhat nice pants with a button up shirt that was typically wrinkled and his hair was messy and falling on his forehead.

But in the office, Miles was in a full, perfectly tailored black suit, with a white shirt and a blue tie, his hair slicked back. His jacket was just tight enough to show off his arms underneath it and his pants were shaped perfectly around his thighs and his tie was slightly loose so the top button of his shirt could be undone and just a bit of his collar bone was poking out and Tristan was reminded why everyone in the city wanted Miles. How could you not want him?

“I’m glad it did,” Miles replied, his face settling into a softer smile rather than his usual cocky smirk. “Come on, let’s sit. Get comfortable. You don’t have to stand at the door.”

Miles walked over and took a seat on the couch and Tristan followed, sitting at the opposite end.

“So, do you wanna explain this business proposal to me?” Tristan asked, crossing his legs and looking over at Miles.

The brunet had his legs stretched out in front of him and was slouching into the seat, looking at the TV instead of Tristan. In fact, as Tristan was talking, he grabbed the remote from the table next to him and flipped the TV on then grabbed a game controller and started up the system.

“Relax, Tris. We’ll get to it. Just chill for a bit, okay?”

Tristan nodded, but still sat up straight, not feeling comfortable enough to let his body relax.

Both men focused on the TV screen as the start screen for one of the company’s games came up.

“You ever played this?” Miles asked as he went to settings and started messing with things completely foreign to Tristan.

“I’m not exactly a video games kind of guy.”

“That hurts, Tris. I thought you would support me.”

Tristan rolled his eyes as Miles smiled at him.

“Anyway,” Miles continued, still messing with the game. “This is the next game in one of our most popular series. Basically, I made these games so I could spend my parents’ money on things they’d never let me buy.  It’s like GTO but instead of taking whatever you want, you’re just super rich and can buy whatever you want.”

“So, it’s your life now?” Tristan smiled as he uncrossed his legs and got a bit more comfortable.

“Funny. But contrary to popular belief, I do not have a disposable income. But this brings me to my business proposal.” He opened up a map on the game and started navigating through it. “Recognize this?”

Tristan studied it for a minute then started nodding. “It’s the other side of the city, where my club is.”

“Exactly. There’s already a strip club in some of the other maps, but because this one is based on Toronto, I wanted to include all real businesses. So I thought why not use your place. I go there all the time anyway, shouldn’t be hard for me to recreate.”

“So what are you asking?” Tristan said, turning a bit more towards Miles.

Miles took the game back to the home screen and turned towards Tristan as well.

“I’m asking if it’s cool with you. Technically, I could do it and just tweak it slightly so you don’t sue me, but I want to do it right and maybe help you out. I’m saying if you let me replicate your club, I’ll pay you for it.”

“What makes you think I need the money?”

“Because I’m not dumb. You don’t get a lot of business. Sure, the customers you get are good tippers, but I know you don’t keep any of those tips. You care too much about your girls and your staff that you barely make any money at all off that place. I’m trying to help you out. And I really do want to use your place for this game.”

Tristan raised an eyebrow and studied the other man’s face. There was no smirk anywhere, no cocky grin, nothing. He looked completely and totally sincere.

He let out a sigh before speaking again.

“So no catch?”

“None at all.”

“I don’t have to suck your dick for the money or something?”

Miles laughed loudly, letting his head fall back on the couch.

“Come on Tris, there’s no conditions.” He looked back at Tristan with a small smile. “Besides, I think we both know that you’d do that for free if I asked.”

Tristan looked down at his feet and felt his cheeks get hot, and hoped he looked away before Miles could notice the pink tinge there.

“Fine,” Tristan said finally. “I mean, yes. It’s a deal.”

“Awesome. Is it cool if I come by when you’re closed at some point this week, just to get some sketches?”

Tristan looked back up at him with eyebrows raised, trying not to let his mouth drop open.

“You draw?”

Miles nodded and laughed a little.

“Who do you think designs the maps for these games? Sure, I have programmers and animators, but the preliminary sketches and layouts and characters are all mine. That’s how I got to be CEO. These are my games.”

“Wow. Honestly I’m… impressed. I kinda thought you were just a spoiled rich kid who bought a company with his trust fund and daddy’s money.”

Miles laughed again and flipped the TV off, then stood up.

“I guess I can forgive you for that. I think that’s probably what most people think of me.”

Tristan stood up too and smiled at the slightly taller man.

“Well, never thought I’d say this, but it’s nice doing business with you,” Tristan said, sticking his hand out.

Miles shook it and smiled back at him.

“Same to you.”

He turned and walked back over to his desk, pulling something out of a drawer and picking up a pen.

“Let me just write you a check…”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Tristan said, taking a couple steps towards him.

Miles looked up at Tristan curiously.

“I said I’d pay you.”

“No, I know, but… you can wait, like, until you’ve actually sketched it out and started putting it in the game. Just in case you change your mind or something.”

Miles straightened up and smiled again.

“Well, I’m not gonna change my mind. But okay, if that’s what you want.”

Tristan nodded and started to turn towards the door.

“Wait… one more thing,” Tristan said, facing Miles again.

“Yeah?”

“When I came into the office, your receptionist… when I said I was here to see you, she gave me this weird look. Do you know what that was about?”

The other man laughed lightly and shook his head, mumbling to himself, “Oh my god, Amy.”

“What was that?”

Miles shook his head again and took a couple steps closer.

“It’s nothing. I just get a lot of visitors. And when they don’t make appointments, they’re generally… of a personal nature, if you get what I mean.”

Tristan looked at him another minute with his eyebrows raised, until the meaning dawned on him and he let out a small oh sound.

“Yeah… so she probably assumed you were one of those…”

“So…” Tristan knew he would end up regretting what he was about to say, but he was going to say it anyway. “You get… personal visits from girls and guys?”

Miles smirked and walked until they were so close, Tristan could smell the cologne on his neck.

“Yeah, I do. I’m… open minded.”

Tristan bit his lip and swallowed, then made eye contact with Miles, having to look up at him because of their proximity.

They kept their eyes locked on each other for close to a minute and Tristan could feel his pulse speeding up. It didn’t help that he swore Miles kept glancing at his lips.

Eventually, without breaking eye contact, Miles lifted a hand and placed it on Tristan’s shoulder, then ran it along his bicep, licking his bottom lip slightly as he did.

Tristan swallowed again and managed to choke out a couple words.

“I should… get going… probably….”

“Yeah, you probably should,” Miles answered, somehow sounding so much more relaxed than Tristan. “I have more work to get done.”

Tristan nodded but still neither of them moved.

After another beat, one of them (although it was hard to tell which one) started leaning in closer and their breaths started mingling and they were both biting or licking their lips when the door to the office swung open.

They both jumped apart and recovered awkwardly, Miles smoothing out his jacket and Tristan wiping sweaty palms on his shirt.

“Amy! What are you doing in here?” Miles asked, sounding a bit out of breath.

“I’m sorry Mr. Hollingsworth, I tried the intercom and you didn’t reply and you never sent out a do not disturb message, so I thought…”

“No, no, you’re fine, you just… surprised me.”

“Oh, okay…” She glanced awkwardly at Tristan before turning to face her boss again. “You have a call on line 1, it’s someone from your father’s office. Sounds important…”

“Yeah, okay, I’ll get it, thanks.”

“Okay. Sorry, again.”

She turned and practically ran out of the room, letting the door slam behind her.

“Well…I have to take that phone call,” Miles said, looking at Tristan apologetically. “My dad gets pissed when I don’t answer him or his office.”

“Yeah, right. I should get going anyway. Um, I’ll call you and leave my cell so we can figure out a time for you to come by the club?”

“Sound good. I’ll, uh, talk to you then I guess.”

“Yeah I guess…”

They shared another glance that gave away how much they both wished Amy hadn’t opened that door, but Tristan only let it last for a second before he turned towards the door and left the room.

He let it closed and leaned up against the dark wood, hearing Miles’ muffled voice answering the phone call.

He stayed frozen against the door for a minute and let out a huge breath he didn’t know he’d been holding and looked up at the ceiling, biting his lip again.

Then, before he could think about it, he whispered under his breath.

“Fuck.”


	5. Emergency

A few days passed, with the club closed and Miles never contacting Tristan like he said he would. By Thursday, when the club had its next night of business, Tristan figured he had changed his mind and moved on.

Besides, Thursday night brought more pressing issues to his attention. Shortly before the girls’ first performance of the night, Zoe ran into Tristan’s office without knocking.

“Grace isn’t here,” she said as soon as she was in the doorway.

“What?”

“The club’s open, people are here, we’re all ready, but Grace isn’t here.”

Tristan stood up then walked around his desk and stopped in front of Zoe.

“Well, have you heard anything from her?”

“Not since yesterday morning.”

Zoe turned away and started pacing around the front of the office.

Tristan walked closer to her and grabbed her by the shoulders, saying, “Zoe, calm down, okay?”

She stopped and turned towards him again, letting out a deep breath.

“We’ll figure out where she is,” Tristan continued. “Now do you want to go home or stay and dance?”

She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair.

“I’ll stay. At least I can distract myself.”

Tristan nodded and put his arm around her shoulder, leading her out of the office.

“Okay, then go get ready, you’re about to go on. And I promise as soon as we close, we’ll find Grace.”

Zoe nodded and walked back to the dressing room, leaving Tristan to flop back into his chair with a sigh.

 

As soon as the dancers were done for the night, Zoe changed and jogged across the main room and Tristan came down from his office to meet her.

“Okay, I have to close up, but then we’ll go,” Tristan said when he saw her.

“Can’t you get one of the bartenders to close up? I need to find her, Tris.”

Tristan sighed then said, “Fine, just give me a minute.”

He turned and walked across the room and over to the bar. As he walked past Miles’ usually table, he glanced at it and saw Miles wasn’t there, so he either left early or didn’t show up at all.

Tristan kept heading towards the bar and tried to pretend that Miles’ absence didn’t bother him like it did. He reached and asked the head bartender to close up then went back over to where Zoe was standing.

“Okay, let’s go.”

She nodded and followed Tristan out his car.

“I figured we’d go to her place and check there first. I found her address from when I hired her.”

Zoe nodded again and looked out the window, then didn’t say another word until they came to a stop in front of an apartment building.

They both went inside, found Grace’s apartment number, and headed upstairs.

“This does not look like a great neighborhood,” Zoe said as Tristan knocked on the door.

“Just because there’s no penthouses or chandeliers doesn’t mean it’s a bad neighborhood.”

Zoe rolled her eyes as the door started opening.

When she saw Grace standing behind it, she took a step forward and practically jumped on her in a hug.

“Okay, hello to you too, Zoe,” Grace said, pulling Zoe off of her slightly.

“Why weren’t you at work tonight?” Zoe asked her, trying not to sound as worried as she felt.

Grace sighed and instead of answering, she said, “You guys wanna come in?”

Tristan nodded and wrapped an arm around Zoe’s shoulder, rubbing it as they followed Grace inside.

Grace led them inside, into a living room with a kitchen connected to it. There was some clothes scattered on the floor and small messes everywhere, like no one had attempted to clean up at all for a few days.

“Um, just sit…wherever,” Grace said, going into the kitchen and moving some dishes to the sink.

Zoe and Tristan both sat down on the couch and Grace walked back over to them, kicking some clothes into the corner as she walked.

“Ignore the mess…” She paused and looked around her apartment, suddenly realizing how small and shabby it looked compared to Zoe’s loft and added on, “And the apartment in general.”

Zoe’s face instantly softened at that and she reached out and grabbed Grace’s hand, pulling her towards the couch.

“Grace, it’s really not a big deal. Sit down, okay?”

Grace sighed and took a seat next to Zoe.

“Look Tristan, I’m sorry I missed work.”

“It’s okay, really. We were just worried about you.”

Grace sighed again and let her head fall back onto the couch.

“Look it’s…complicated. And I guess I probably should’ve said something sooner, since I knew it might make me miss work…”

Zoe turned towards her slightly and put her hand on top of the hand Grace had resting on her leg.

“It’s okay. Just tell us what’s wrong, please.”

Grace looked at her friend and saw the fear in her eyes and her frown and knew Zoe deserved to know. If anyone deserved it, it was Zoe.

“Fine,” Grace said after a few seconds of silence. “I’m kind of…sick. But it’s not that simple.” She paused again and sighed, running her fingers through her hair. “I have cystic fibrosis.”

Both of them fell silent for a beat, then Tristan leaned forward so he could see Grace.

“Okay, you’re fired,” he said, causing Zoe to immediately slap his shoulder.

“Tris, you’re not serious!” She said, slapping him again.

“Ow, no I’m not serious! Stop slapping me.”

He pushed her slightly, then faced towards Grace again, settling back into a more serious expression.

“Seriously though, why did you take this job?” He asked, his hand on Zoe’s knee to keep her from freaking out. “It can’t be good for you.”

Grace sighed.

“Because I don’t want to feel like the sick girl all the time. Besides, do you know how many medical bills I have? I need the money.”

“But it’s not the kind that kills you right?” Zoe asked, sinking back into the couch. Even as she kept talking, she didn’t look at Grace or Tristan, just zoned in on something in front of her and kept her eyes locked there. “Like you’re not dying or anything.”

Grace moved up to the edge of the couch and turned slightly more towards Zoe.

“There’s only one kind of CF Zo,” she said. “I didn’t come to work tonight because I had a flare up last night.”

They all went silent for a bit until Tristan leaned forward and put his hand on Grace’s knee.

“Don’t come in for the rest of the weekend okay? You need to take care of yourself and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I need that money, Tris.”

“Then I’ll give you your share of the tips. Look, I care about you and I’m your boss so you have to listen to me.”

Grace sighed and leaned back again.

“Okay fine. I’ll stay home, promise.”

Grace looked over at Zoe then and saw her still staring straight ahead, so she elbowed her gently in the side.

“Hey Zo. Are you okay?”

When Zoe didn’t respond, she did it again.

“Zoe, come on, say something.”

Tristan turned his attention to Zoe then and poked at her arm a couple time.

“Zoe, what’s up?”

They both continued looking at her and trying to get her attention for a bit longer before Grace looked at Tristan.

“Maybe you should go. I’ll try to break her out of this.”

Tristan nodded and stood up.

“Love you guys. Just call or text me if you need to miss work, Zo.”

She didn’t respond still, so Tristan just gave Grace a small, sad smile then left the two of them alone.

As soon as the door shut behind him, Grace turned towards Zoe and put her hand on the cheek facing away from her, then turned Zoe’s face towards her.

“Zoe, it’s okay. Just say something please.”

Zoe closed her eyes slowly and turned her head down, then finally reached out and put her hands on Grace’s shoulders.

“You have to be okay, Grace,” Zoe said, opening her eyes which were now filling with tears. “You’re the only real friend I’ve had besides Tristan in years. You can’t leave me.”

“Oh my god, Zoe.”

Grace reached out and wrapped her arms around the other girl, hugging her tightly.

“I’m sticking around as long as I can, okay?” Grace said into Zoe’s hair. “It’s fine.”

Zoe pulled away, nodding and wiping a tear off her face.

“God, I’m so stupid. I’m sorry for freaking out like this.”

“It’s okay, really. Honestly, it’s better than staring at me with the ‘poor thing’ expression I usually get.”

Zoe smiled a small smile at her friend and relaxed against the couch, kicking her shoes off and pulling her knees to her chest, her feet resting on the edge of her seat.

“What are you doing?” Grace asked with an amused smirk.

“Making myself comfortable. I’m staying here with you, so might as well make myself at home.”

Grace paused and raised a dark eyebrow.

“Who said you’re staying here?"

“Oh, I did. Just now.” Zoe looked over at Grace with an expression that almost looked like a mother scolding a child. “You’re not staying alone. You need someone with you, in case of emergency, and I’m assigning myself to that job.”

“Zoe, you don’t have…”

She didn’t let the taller girl finish, just jumped right in like Grace didn’t say a word.

“Have you been to see your doctor? You should go, just in case, to check up on everything.”

“No I haven’t seen a doctor. Did you miss me talking about drowning in medical bills? Besides, I’ve been dealing with this most of my life, I know how to handle a standard lung infection. This one isn’t even that bad.”

Zoe sighed but didn’t push the doctor issue any further.

“Okay, so no doctor. What do you have to do to get better?”

Grace sighed too and shrugged, letting her head fall on the back of the couch.

“Zo, just…”

Zoe put her feet back on the floor and turned to face the other girl, talking over her again.

“Just tell me. You know I’m not gonna back off. I think you know me well enough at this point to realize that.”

Grace rolled her eyes but sat up and nodded slightly.

“Fine. I need to do my therapy. I’ve missed a few days. Sometimes I just…want to forget. That anything’s wrong with me, you know?”

“No I don’t. You need to take care of yourself, no matter how much you hate it. Otherwise you’ll end up sick in your apartment alone, missing work and not texting your friends, making them scared that you’re dead.”

Grace cracked a smile and pulled herself up off of the couch, then looked down at Zoe.

“You’re right. I know you’re right. Sometimes, I just…when you have something like this, where you have to do something every day to keep you out of the hospital, even though you know your disease will still probably kill you too soon, you just get sick of trying sometimes.”

Zoe bit her lip and looked down at the floor, trying not to let the word ‘kill’ get to her too much.

“Come on, princess,” Grace said, grabbing onto Zoe’s hand and pulling her into a standing position.

“Princess?” Zoe said, when they were standing much too close, two pairs of brown eyes locked together and the scent of lavender and vanilla mixing with the scent of coconut.

“Former actress, very self-assured…and by that I mean narcissistic. Lives in a penthouse with a chandelier outside her front door. Princess seemed fitting.”

Instead coming up with a snarky come back, Zoe felt her cheeks get hot and she looked down at the floor, trying to hide her blush from Grace.

“You can watch me do my therapy to make sure I do it,” Grace said, using the hand still joined with Zoe’s to pull her along into the bedroom.

Grace let go of Zoe’s hand when they were in the doorway and made her way over to the corner of the room where a chair sat in front of a machine. Grace sat in the chair and turned on the machine, putting a plastic mouth piece connected to a tube on her mouth.

She started breathing with the machine and Zoe slowly walked closer, kneeling awkwardly in front of Grace. Zoe looked up at her friend and gave a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Instead of acknowledging it, Grace took Zoe’s hand again and pulled it onto her thigh right above her knee, interlocking their fingers. Zoe let out a breath at the contact and settled into a seated position on the floor, facing the other girl.

They sat there together holding hands until Grace was done. Once she stood up with Zoe right behind her, she started urging Zoe to go home, assuring her she was going right to bed and everything would be okay and she could even come back in the morning but Zoe wouldn’t budge.

That’s how, after a half hour long argument over it, Zoe ended up curled in a ball of blankets and pillows on the floor right next to Grace’s bed.

Grace settled in under her old comforter and smiled fondly down at the girl asleep on her floor. She rolled closer to the edge of the bed and let her arm hang off, brushing her fingers lightly across Zoe’s hair. Zoe stirred in her sleep, but quickly relaxed, rolling onto her side facing Grace. As she moved, her arm came over and grabbed at Grace’s hand. She didn’t know if it was intentional or not, but either way Grace was not taking her hand away. Even if it fell asleep and felt like it could fall off, Zoe could have it.

With Grace, Zoe could have it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grace and Zoe are precious lil puppies, okay.


	6. The Sketch Book

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I broke my longest chapter record once again. Miles and Tristan demand too many words, those stupid needy fuckers.

Saturday morning, Tristan woke up to his phone ringing on his nightstand, obnoxiously loud. _This is why you turn the volume down before you fall asleep, Tristan_ , he thinks as he rolls over and picks up his phone, answering the call without even looking at who it’s from.

“Hello?” he mutters into the speaker, fully realizing he sounded both exhausted and pissed.

“You sound sexy in the morning,” the voice on the other end said.

Tristan raised an eyebrow, wondering who the hell would call him at 8 on a Saturday morning and call him sexy. Then everything clicked.

“Miles.”

“Hello Tris. How are you this lovely morning?”

Tristan groaned and rolled onto his back, throwing his arm over his eyes.

“I was perfectly happy and asleep until some asshole decided to call me,” Tristan grumbled back.

“Oh, that’s too bad. Tell me his name, I’ll give him a talk for you.”

The smirk in Miles’ voice was painfully obvious. He was loving how much he was getting under Tristan’s skin and Tristan was too annoyed and tired to hide it.

“Can you please stop being a dick and just tell me what you want.”

He pulled his arm off of his face and opened his eyes, staring up at the ceiling. If Miles is insisting on talking to him, he might as well make sure he doesn’t fall back asleep.

“Okay, okay,” Miles said, his voice softening into how he talked to Tristan in his office. “Just wanted to see when I could come by and sketch the club.”

“That was supposed to be last week Miles, when we were closed.”

His voice still sounded beyond irritated. But it was well deserved. If Miles wanted a happy Tristan, he shouldn’t have forgotten his existence for a whole week.

“I know, but I had some problems at work I had to worry about and I didn’t have the time.”

“What did someone’s Xbox break?”

Tristan knew he wasn’t being fair. He knew Miles cared about his job. However, he also knew that Miles almost kissed him then went a week without talking to him, so he couldn’t really bother to care about the rest of it.

Miles sighed into the phone.

“Fine, if you don’t wanna help me, I’ll just make up something to put in place of the club.”

Tristan sighed too.

“No. It’s fine. Can you come by Monday?”

“Yeah, Monday’s good. Does 1 work?”

“Yeah. Don’t be late.”

Tristan didn’t let him say anything else before he ended the call and set his phone back on the nightstand, then rolled over and went back to sleep.

 

Tristan survived the rest of the weekend, not seeing Grace or Zoe once. He texted Zoe at one point and she said she was staying at Grace’s apartment all day taking care of her (though Grace had been kicking her out at night), so Tristan didn’t mind so much.

Monday afternoon, he arrived at the club around 12:30 and left the door unlocked when he went inside so Miles could let himself in. He grabbed himself a glass of wine from the bar and took a seat at Miles’ favorite table, then pulled out his phone to relax until Mr. “playboy millionaire” showed up.

Surprisingly, the devil himself walked through the door at 12:45 and flashed a smirk in Tristan’s direction.

Tristan raised a critical eyebrow at him as he walked to the table and took a seat across from Tristan, then pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it, taking a drag with his eyes locked on the other man the whole time.

They stayed there silent for a beat, green eyes locked with grey, no attempt to look away.

“Bet you expected me to be late,” Miles said eventually, taking another drag.

“I suspected it,” Tristan replied, waving his hand in front of his face to clear away some of the smoke.

They fell silent again, but this time Tristan looked at his phone, absentmindedly sipping from his glass and trying to look utterly uninterested in the man across from him. Despite the fact that his blood was rushing downwards thanks to the button up Miles was wearing with the top three buttons undone, showing off the dip of his collar bone. Tristan definitely did not want to grab him and suck at that dip in his skin until it was bruised.

Thankfully, Miles spoke again before Tristan’s thoughts could run away any further.

“So, should I get started?” he asked, his tone significantly more gentle than before.

“Yeah I guess,” Tristan said, not looking up at him.

Miles let out a sigh, then reached his hand across the table and tapped his index finger against the table in front of the blond boy.

Tristan sighed too, but looked over at Miles anyway with his mouth set in a straight line.

“Look Tris, I’m sorry,” the brunet said, his voice impossibly soft and caring. “I know how it must’ve seemed, me not calling you last week. We had a… thing in my office and then I disappear. It wasn’t fair. But I swear it’s got nothing to do with you.”

Tristan bit his lip, trying to avoid crumbling under Miles’ almost tender gaze.

However, his voice did loose most of its bite when he said, “Then what was it?”

Miles sighed and leaned back in the chair, taking another drag of his neglected cigarette and Tristan tried not to think about how lucky that cigarette was to have those lips wrapped around it like that.

“It was just… family stuff.”

Tristan raised an eyebrow, his frustration bubbling up in his gut once more.

“Family stuff? That’s all I get?”

“Look, it’s personal. I don’t talk about family shit, okay? With anyone, especially not someone I barely know.”

Miles pushed himself up out of his chair and yanked a sketch pad out of the bag he brought with him without glancing back at Tristan. He put out his half-finished cigarette in the ash tray on the table and walked to the corner of the club, pulled out a chair, threw himself into it, and started scribbling on the paper.

Tristan followed his every movement until he settled in the corner, a neutral expression set on his face. He couldn’t understand why Miles thought he got to be angry when Tristan was the one who got ignored, but somehow he couldn’t be upset with him about it. The look that flashed across his face when Tristan pushed the issue, the brief but very real fear that filled his eyes, stopped him from feeling anything but curious as to what secrets this man was hiding.

He sighed and relaxed in his chair, sipping the wine again and placing his phone on the table, finding the other person in the room much more interesting to focus on.

Miles wasn’t paying attention to anything else but the room and the paper. Every bit of his face was soft and relaxed, without a care in the world. He looked around, bit his lip, looked back at the paper, and moved his pencil across it. Then repeated the same process, over and over and over, with not a hint of boredom, no sense that the monotony was getting to him. His expression remained docile, if not almost happy. Sure, Tristan hadn’t spent a lot of time around Miles, but he’d never seen him like this, never really believed anything could make him look like this.

After a while, Miles stood up, sending Tristan’s eyes shooting away from him and to the surface of the table. Miles didn’t even notice him, though, just moved the chair to a different angle and started his same process again.

Tristan turned his head to focus on him again, but something caught his eye as he did. There was a spiral book sticking half-way out of Miles’ bag, open to a page with a rough sketch on it. Tristan could only see a little bit of the drawing, but he saw enough to register what it was. He reached out and grabbed the book, pulling it out as slowly as he could to avoid making noise, then placed it down gently in front of him.

Then he confirmed exactly what he thought it was. Miles had sketched him. His eyes were open and focused forward, like Tristan was staring at himself. His hair was drawn just slightly messy, but still styled, just like Tristan liked and he was wearing a deep V-neck t-shirt like he was at Miles’ office. He had even sketched the dips of his cheek bones and littered light dots where his freckles were. God, how much time had Miles spent staring at him?

There was no denying it though, Miles had drawn him beautiful. Nothing like what Tristan saw when he looked in a mirror. This man was confident, sure of himself, staring forward like he could take on the world. Not at all like his insides, which were constantly shaky, insecure, and terrified of the future.

He reached out his hand and lightly traced the lines on the paper, wondering if this is how he looked to others, if he was so good at faking it that he put off this air of confidence.

His wondering was quickly interrupted, though, by the sound of someone clearing his throat behind his shoulder. Tristan almost jumped through the ceiling at the sound and turned to face the person standing behind him

“Having fun?” Miles asked, sounding so much calmer than when he last talked to Tristan.

“I’m really sorry, it just fell out of your bag a bit and I saw it and was curious and… sorry.”

Miles sighed and pulled a chair up next to Tristan, taking a seat.

“It’s okay. Probably shouldn’t have left it open to that page anyway.”

Tristan felt his body relax and he pulled his hand away from the drawing and made eye contact with the brunet.

“So… do you spend hours staring at my face?” he asked with a teasing tone.

Miles cracked the slightest of smiles and shook his head.

“No. I drew it right after you left. I was looking at you for about 5 minutes and I just… couldn’t get your face out of my head I guess.” He bit his lip and glanced at the floor. If he didn’t know better, Tristan would think it looked almost shy. “I wanted to remember how you looked in that moment. It’s dumb, I know.”

Tristan shook his head, a smile playing at his lips.

“It’s really not. It’s insanely flattering, really. Never thought someone would think my face is worth remembering.”

Miles locked eyes with him again, his expression sweet and a little sad.

“Why would you even say that, Tris? You have a face worth remembering, you have to know that. You walk with so much confidence, like you own the room. How do you not know your face is…”

Tristan gave him a half smile.

“My face is what?” His tone was almost challenging.

“It’s gorgeous, Tris.” He let out a deep sigh, like saying the word was difficult. “Don’t let that go to your head too much, okay?”

Tristan smiled fully now, shaking his head slightly.

“I think I can manage that.”

They smiled at each other for a bit, then Miles focused on the book again.

“This is my personal sketch book,” he said, seemingly for no particular reason. “I have one for work, and one for me. I draw when I’m bored or when I just have an image in my brain I can’t get out. I get those a lot, really. It’s like when people get songs stuck in their head. I get pictures stuck in mine, so I have to let them out.”

Tristan watched his face as he talked, as it settled back into the same expression he had when he was sketching the club.

“Did you ever think you wanted to be an artist?”

Miles scoffed and shook his head.

“No. Not a chance. You should’ve seen my dad’s face when I said I wanted to start a video game company. He was fucking pissed, but at least there’s money in it. There’s no money in art. There’s living in tiny, shitty apartments and selling your work for scraps and probably never making it big. And even if you by some chance make it, it usually only lasts a handful of years until everyone forgets your name.”

“Is it really that rough?”

Miles laughed lightly, a complete contrast with his almost bitter face.

“Yeah. A lot of my animators were doing it before they came to my business. Being an artist isn’t just hard, it’s nearly impossible.” He paused and shrugged quickly. “Besides, I’m happy where I am. I still get to draw, but I get stability. And I know business inside and out. Something my father always made sure of. But the art… that’s why I still do so much. A typical CEO, of any business, just hires and supervises and makes executive decisions. Never does any grunt work. But I love this part of it. I love creating something from nothing, building worlds that’ll become some sort of reality. Sure, it’s just virtual reality, but that’s good enough for me.”

Tristan glanced down and shook his head again, an expression of disbelief on his face.

“What’s that look for?” Miles asked, leaning forward slightly to study Tristan’s face closer.

“Nothing. It’s just I really thought you were an airhead who just got everything handed to him. I never really expected you to be smart, to… care so much.”

Miles leaned back and crossed his legs, resting a hand on his knee.

“Guess you shouldn’t be so quick to judge,” he said, smirk evident in his tone even though Tristan couldn’t see his face.

“So, can I see more of these pictures that get stuck in your head?” Tristan reached out and fluttered his fingers over the corner of the sketch book, throwing a glance at the man sitting beside him.

Miles sighed, but leaned forward and pulled the book closer to him, turning a page as he did.

“I guess it won’t hurt.” He pointed to the new drawing. “This is my office view. I picked that office just for the window. I love the skyline, as lame as that it.” He flipped the page again. “This is just random doodles of some of the in-game cars and shit.” Another page flip. Miles froze up at that page and rushed to try and turn the page again before Tristan really got to look at it.

However, it didn’t work. Tristan reached out and placed his hand on top of Miles’ slightly thinner but larger one and stilled his movement.

“Leave it. Please?”

Miles sighed but pulled his hand back, not looking at the drawing as Tristan studied it.

It was a man who shared some subtle features with Miles, looking filled with rage and holding his hand up in the air, looking like he’s about to slap someone across the face.

“This is your dad,” Tristan says slowly, recognizing him from his stint as the mayor.

Miles nodded, still not saying anything.

Tristan ran his finger across some of the pencil lines before he slammed the book shut and looked back to Miles.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said quickly. “It’s not my business. Are you done here?”

Miles nodded again, slowly this time, before pushing himself up into a standing position.

“Yeah, I have enough. Um, guess I should take off then.”

Tristan nodded then, standing as well and holding out the sketch book to the other man.

He took it with a grateful smile and slid it into his bag along with the other sketch book and threw it on his shoulder.

He started to head towards the door, then stopped and turned back to Tristan.

“So…thanks. For everything I guess.”

“No problem. Really.”

What he was really thankful for lay unspoken in the air between them, expressed only through the soft smiles they shared.

“I’ll have my secretary send you the money, okay? And… I’ll see you Thursday.”

“Coming back as a customer again?”

“Course. Beautiful women and one gorgeous Tristan?” He paused and winked, running his tongue across his bottom lip so quickly that Tristan almost thought he imagined it. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

 

Later that day, Zoe called Tristan and without even saying hello, she said, “I need a night out. I’ve spent all weekend worried sick about Grace, and I need a distraction.”

It didn’t take much convincing for him to agree and that night, they found themselves in a bar the other side of town, dressed up and siting on bar stools, waiting for a good song to dance to.

Zoe got the bartender’s attention pretty quickly and got herself a hard lemonade and Tristan a glass of red wine.

“Do you ever drink anything besides wine?” Zoe asked him as he took a long sip.

“Only when I’m looking to get drunk. I like the taste of wine, like to enjoy it. Liquor is disgusting and only good for getting shit faced.”

Zoe shrugged and turned to face the dance floor again. “That makes sense, actually.”

“When do I not make sense?”

“When you’re distracted by a hot boy,” she replied automatically, the statement full of snark.

Tristan laughed and nodded at her.

“Okay, good point. Completely unfair, but true.”

Shortly after, a Lady Gaga song came through the sound system and Tristan and Zoe both jumped off the bar stools at the same time and rushed out to the floor hand in hand. They started dancing together, smiling and occasionally singing the lyrics at each other. They alternated between dancing well, hips rocking to the beat and bodies moving the way they knew kept boys staring, and making up silly moves, laughing at how ridiculous they looked.

However, towards the end of the song, Tristan froze, his eyes locked on something past Zoe’s shoulders.

“Tris, what’s up?” she asked him, stopping her movements too, then following Tristan’s gaze.

When she did, she saw what he was looking at. Miles Hollingsworth was sitting at a table in the back corner, next to a girl wearing a tiny sequined dress that showed a significant amount of cleavage that Miles was obviously enjoying looking at. They were talking and laughing, hands skimming across shoulders and faces and hair and Miles kissing her neck every now and then.

Tristan felt anger boiling in his stomach, but he couldn’t look away. He and Miles had nothing. He basically hated him not even a month ago. But now he’d seen his intelligence, the way his green eyes lit up when he talked about art or his work, the way he raked his eyes over Tristan’s body, the way he called Tristan’s face _gorgeous_.

And now he sees him whispering in a girl’s ear and her hand wandering close to him under the table, probably doing things he didn’t want to think about.

“Tris, snap out of it! Look at me!”

Zoe’s voice finally broke through his fog and he looked back at her, still fucking pissed.

“Why are you so focused on Miles with some girl?”

Tristan didn’t say a word, just turned away and walked back to the bar, settling on an empty stool again.

Zoe followed and took the seat next to him, frowning towards Miles and his date.

“You like him, don’t you?”

“Shut up, Zoe,” he replied, tone biting.

“Ouch, defensive much?”

He sighed. “Sorry. Just…pissed at him.”

“So you like him.”

Tristan turned on the stool and faced her again, letting out a second sigh.

“I saw him a few hours ago. He was talking to me, telling me things that matter to him, showing me his drawings, ones that he does just for him. I thought it meant something. I thought…” He shook his head. “What I thought obviously doesn’t matter anymore, because he’s here with her and I’m obviously just a game to him.”

He turned further around, facing the bar, and banged his hand on the surface a few times.

A bartender turned towards him with a scowl, but came closer anyway.

“Do you want something?” he asked, making it clear he didn’t want to help.

“Yeah, I need a round of vodka shots.”

“Tris…” Zoe said with a warning tone as the bartender poured the drinks. “That’s a bad idea.”

“I need to not think about him. I need to get fucked up and stick my tongue down some other boy’s throat and get Miles Hollingsworth out of my skin.”

Zoe sighed.

“Okay. I’m gonna go on record to say this is a bad idea, but you’re a grown up so you can do what you want.”

The bartender set the drinks in front of him and he downed one instantly.

“Good.”

“I’m gonna go sit at a table. Better for me to avoid the shots probably. I might dance a bit or just distract myself with my phone. I won’t leave you, but I’m also not going to watch you do something stupid.”

Zoe stood and walked away without waiting for a response and Tristan swallowed another shot, focusing on Miles again as he and the girl practically swallowed each other’s tongues.

 

An hour or so later and Tristan was in the center of the dance floor, beyond wasted and grinding up against any boy who came close. He barely even took in their faces, just jutted his hips against theirs and rubbed his ass on their dicks until they were half hard against him, hands gripping his hipbones.

At some point, Miles and the girl were on the edge of the dance floor, her body pressed tight against his, back against his stomach, ass all over him and Tristan started burning inside out again.

That’s when he turned to face the boy he was up against and collided their lips together roughly. It was messy and filthy, tongues raking against each other and teeth catching lips and he tasted like stale whisky but it didn’t matter because anything was better than Miles’ Ralph Lauren cologne filling his senses. The boy gripped at Tristan’s sides and slid inside his shirt, nails scraping his skin. Then he slid his hands lower and grasped at Tristan’s ass, tongue still taking over his mouth. Tristan couldn’t breathe and couldn’t smell anything beyond vodka and whiskey. His head was swimming and his body felt heavy and he was tasting this stranger like he was his lifeline but Miles’ smile was flashing in his brain and his hands were aching for the soft skin above his chest and he tried to kiss deeper but he only saw more of that perfect beautiful asshole and he knew he was beyond fucked.

What he didn’t know is there were eyes from the edge of the dance floor focused on him, following the movement of strange hands across Tristan’s body and that person’s mouth was set in a scowl and his hands loosened their hold on the girl writhing in front of him and he didn’t want to be touching her anymore, he wanted to be throwing that stranger away, punching him across the jaw, and replacing those hands with his own on Tristan’s body.

Suddenly, he dropped his hands away from the girl and he was whispering that he needed to run to the men’s room into the girl’s ear and she nodded and he pushed her away and rushed to the bathroom, his blood boiling.

When Miles let the door slam shut behind him, he looked around and found the stalls open and empty, so he let himself sink onto the floor, back against the wall directly by the door.

He couldn’t bother caring about the stains of substances he was probably sitting on, alcohol or otherwise. He wanted to scream and punch something or someone and he swore he never felt this way before.

He had fuck buddies and friends with benefits but no one he ever got jealous over. He could share graciously and none of them really meant anything to him anyway. So why was Tristan different? Why did it matter?

Suddenly, the door swung open, almost hitting him in the face. He tried to blend into the wall, hoping the guy would just hurry and leave without noticing him. Unfortunately, there was a tight ass in his face clad in pastel skinny jeans and he knew it was Tristan.

He turned around and his eyes locked on Miles, then he rolled them overdramatically, almost falling over from the loss of something to focus on.

Miles jumped up and grabbed on to Tristan’s arms, trying to keep him from getting hurt despite how pissed he was.

Tristan didn’t appreciate it much, apparently, by the way he threw Miles’ hands off of him and gripped onto the edge of the sink instead.

Miles walked closer and stopped next to him, making sure to leave enough distance so they didn’t touch.

“What are you doing in here?” Tristan asked, the slur in his voice very apparent.

“Honestly, trying to avoid that show you were putting on out there.” Miles’ voice was full of venom, aimed directly at Tristan. He wanted him to know how pissed he was.

Tristan turned towards him, suddenly feeling much more sober thanks to the resurge of anger in his gut, but still gripped the sink for balance.

“You don’t get to be mad. You’re the one who keeps flirting, keeps making me believe you like me, calls me confident and gorgeous, then shows up here with some girl!”

Miles turned to face him too and his voice definitely got louder when he replied.

“So you get shitfaced and make out with someone who don’t even know? Why? To get back at me?”

Tristan raised his voice too, even louder and stepped closer so he was screaming in the other man’s face.

“No, so I could stop thinking about you! So I could want something besides your lips and your skin and your smell and fucking you, everything about your stupid asshole self!”

They were both screaming, volume rivaling the pounding music outside.

“You think I don’t want you?! You think I stare at you and look at your lips every other fucking minute and fucking _draw_ you because I don’t want you?!”

“You have a shit way of showing it!”

“Fine, how’s this?!”

He only as to take a half a step forward until they’re touching, until Miles is shoving his lips hard against Tristan, shoving his tongue in quickly, not bothering to wait for an invitation.

He doesn’t need it, though, because Tristan is kissing back with as much intensity, fighting his tongue against Miles’ to take over the brunet’s mouth instead.

Tristan’s hands are tangled in Miles’ hair and Miles’ hands are under Tristan’s shirt, gripping at his waist like he’ll drown if he lets go.

If Tristan thought his kiss with the stranger was dirty, he knew nothing. This kiss was beyond filthy, tongues warring for control and teeth biting roughly at lips, vodka filling up Miles’ senses and tobacco and rum filling Tristan’s. Their hands are roaming now, Miles’ on Tristan’s ass, pulling their hips into each other and Tristan’s gipping at Miles’ neck so he couldn’t pull away if he wanted to. Which he didn’t.

Tristan’s cock was painfully hard in his tight jeans and he rutted his hips against Miles desperately, seeking out any bit of friction. Miles mirrored his movements, obviously just as hard, and grabbed Tristan’s ass tighter so their hips were nearly locked together.

Tristan slid his mouth off of Miles’ and nipped along his jawline then down his neck, letting teeth sink in lightly but not long enough to leave a mark. Miles let out a low moan from the back of his throat and Tristan smirked against the man’s neck, loving the response he got.

He continued the trail of his mouth until he reached the dip of Miles’ collar bone and decided to follow through on his urges from earlier. He sunk his teeth into skin lightly then sucked at the same spot, roughly and viciously, swiping his tongue across it every now and then to sooth it. Miles let out another moan, then another, his hold still tight on Tristan’s ass and their hard dicks still rubbing together through denim.

Tristan didn’t let up until he was satisfied that he left his mark, a deep red and blue and black stain on Miles’ porcelain skin to remind him he was there.

That’s when Miles let go of him, very slowly, with a slight groan. They took a step back from each other, though that still left them extremely close.

Tristan studied Toronto’s most wanted playboy, with pupils blown out so far they nearly swallowed the green in his eyes, his hair sticking out in odd angles, his dick straining against his jeans, and most of all the dark bruise Tristan’s mouth left on his collar bone.

They both studied each other, breathing heavily and still way too turned on.

Somehow, Tristan was the first to end the moment.

“I…need to go. Zoe’s here, waiting for me. We should… I need to get her home.”

Miles nodded in response, running his fingers through his hair and taking another step back.

“Yeah, right. I have to get…”

He jabbed his thumb towards the main room, not wanting to bring up the girl that started this whole thing.

Tristan nodded too and then turned to walk out.

“Um, maybe you should wait a minute to leave. So people don’t think we… did anything.”

Then he left and Miles smiled wryly at the closing door, almost wishing he got the chance to do every unspeakable thing to Tristan that people might suspect.


	7. Playing House

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I mentioned that Grace and Zoe are precious? Because they are.

Tuesday afternoon, after sleeping way too late from being at the club till nearly 2 with Tristan, Zoe showed up at Grace’s apartment once again. She knocked on the door a few times, calling out Grace’s name.

It took longer than usual for the door to open and when it finally did, Zoe was met with a deep frown on her friend’s face and Grace refused to look her in the eye.

“Grace? What’s up with you?”

Grace bit her lip, still staring at the ground, and was silent for a beat before answering.

“Look can you just leave?”

Zoe felt fear rising inside of her and started imagining terrible scenarios of Grace’s illness getting worse and her almost on her death bed.

“Grace, please just let me in,” Zoe said finally, trying to keep her voice steady despite the images filling her head. “This isn’t funny.”

“And I’m not laughing. Just leave me alone, okay?”

Zoe started shaking her head, more fears attacking her brain, this time of Grace suddenly hating her and wanting nothing to do with her.

“I’ll only leave if you look at me and tell me you don’t want me here,” she said, her voice wavering just slightly.

Grace let out a sigh and finally lifted her head to look at the other girl. Her expression was blank, giving Zoe absolutely no clue at why she was acting like this.

“I want you to leave,” she said softly.

Despite the low volume, it was obvious she meant it, which caused Zoe to take a couple steps back, her fear starting to build into a full blown panic.

There was no hint of calm in her tone when she said, “Fine, I’ll go. Just don’t expect me to show up if you relapse again and end up dead.”

With that, she turned and marched down the hall, disappearing through the door to the staircase. Grace closed the door as soon as Zoe walked away, and brushed away the tears prickling at her eyes.

Zoe didn’t even bother trying to hold back. As soon as she was out of sight, she collapsed at the top of the staircase and started sobbing so hard her whole body shook.

 

There was absolute radio silence between the two girls until Thursday night when they both showed up at the club for work and ended up next to each other in the dressing room to do their makeup.

When they first sat down, Grace gave Zoe an awkward smile that was completely ignored and led to them both ignoring the other in favor of getting ready. Then, when they were both pretty much done, Grace let out a long sigh and turned to face Zoe.

“I’m sorry,” she blurted out.

Zoe glanced at her, but her facial expression was pretty neutral so Grace tried again.

“I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed you off like that. It was pretty bitchy, especially without giving you any reason.”

“You’re right, it was,” Zoe replied, still staring at the mirror instead of facing Grace.

Grace bit her lip, looked down, and started fiddling with her fingers. They fell into silence for a beat, before it was Zoe’s turn to sigh.

“Okay, so I was a bitch too,” she said, turning on her stool to face the other girl. “I had a… accidental relapse into high school Zoe. But to be fair, you scared the shit out of me!”

Grace let out a small laugh and looked up at her friend’s face.

“I know, I know. I was dumb.”

“We were both dumb.”

“So…I guess I should tell you what this whole thing was about?”

Zoe replied with a look that said “duh, you idiot,” causing Grace to let out a longer laugh.

Then, they were interrupted by the announcement filling the club that they were about to go out on stage, so they stood up and joined the other girls.

“Continue this conversation after?” Zoe asked, falling into the line behind Grace.

In return, Grace glanced back with a small smile.

“Promise.”

 

As soon as they were done for the night, Zoe walked over to Grace while she was in the corner changing.

“So, ready to continue that conversation?” she asked, not bothering to alert the half-naked Grace of her presence.

Grace jumped and held her t-shirt awkwardly in front of her chest.

“Can you not sneak up on people? Especially while they’re changing.”

“Oh come on, we’re all girls. Plus, we work _here_.”

With that, Zoe took a step closer to Grace and started to change herself.

Grace reluctantly lowered her shirt and finished getting dressed, trying to avoid looking at Zoe while she changed.

“So, why did you kick me out?” Zoe asked while she pulled her shirt over her head.

Grace sighed and leaned against the wall, now fully dressed, then looked at the floor to make sure she wasn’t checking Zoe out.

“Because you spent the whole weekend taking care of me.”

Zoe gave her a look as she finished changing and stood next to Grace against the wall.

“And? Why is that a problem?”

Grace pushed herself off the wall and turned to face Zoe.

“Because I hate being taken care of!” she said, her volume raising slightly. “That’s exactly why I moved away from my mom and got a crappy apartment by myself. I’ve been coddled my whole life thanks to my CF and I’ve spent too much time learning to handle myself to let it happen again.”

Zoe turned to face Grace then and tried to shove down the anger she started feeling.

“I’m not trying to coddle you. I’m your friend and I care about you and that means I’d rather not see you die. I would’ve kept checking on you if you had a cold! You’re my best friend, okay? That means I worry. And you can’t do anything to change that.”

Grace sighed and leaned back against the wall again.

“It’s not just that… you live in, like the palace of apartments. And I live in a dirty closet.”

Zoe sighed and moved so she was in front of Grace.

“I don’t care where you live. It makes absolutely no difference to me. And it shouldn’t to you either. You got that place by yourself, to be completely independent. You should be proud of that.”

“That doesn’t make it any less embarrassing.”

“Okay… what would it take for you to feel better about this? I’ll even it out.”

Grace laughed slightly and shook her head.

“Come on, Zo, this is dumb.”

“No, seriously. Tell me how I can make us even and I’ll do it.”

Grace laughed again and shrugged.

“I don’t know… tell me some secret about you. You know about my pathetic apartment and serious lack of money and my CF and I know almost none of your secrets.”

Zoe laughed a little and nodded.

“Okay, okay. As long as you don’t sell it to E! for a story on former child stars.”

Grace laughed as Zoe grabbed her arm and led her out of the dressing room and into the main room. They both took seats at the bar before Zoe started in on her story.

“Just so you know, I’m cool with telling you this because I dealt with it and recovered from it a long time ago. So you don’t worry about it triggering me or something.”

Grace raised an eyebrow, but nodded, so Zoe continued.

“When I was a sophomore in high school, I was at this party and got way too drunk, then ended up basically passed out. And a couple guys decided this meant they could screw with me. So they came up to barely conscious 15 year-old and decided to kiss her and grab her boobs and film it and take pictures. And finger her. And thought it was cool because she didn’t protest. Not thinking about the fact that she was almost passed out.”

When she finished, she was staring at the bar and tapping her fingers awkwardly while Grace stared at her open-mouthed.

They were both dead silent for about a minute before Zoe glanced up at Grace, who was still just staring at her.

“Well? Say something, please.”

Grace ran her fingers through her hair and shook her head, trying to shake off her shock and awkwardness.

“Okay, well I’d say we’re more than even.”

Zoe smiled slightly and almost visibly relaxed.

“They were basically terrible people. And like I said, I got through it. I actually managed to convince my mom to pay for counseling and, surprisingly this job has helped a lot.”

Grace raised her eyebrows.

“Not to be totally close minded, but how the hell does taking off clothes and dancing for strange men help you recover from an assault?”

Zoe laughed slightly, then said, “Because it’s my choice. They had all the power in that situation. They made me into a pathetic victim. Here, I get to dance and be sexy and turn guys on, but all they can do is look. They can’t catcall or use me or even touch me. I’m in control of them.”

Grace paused before saying, “Okay, that actually makes a lot of sense.”

The other girl laughed and leaned against the bar.

“See, I told you.”

They went quiet for a bit before Zoe turned to face her friend again.

“So, I know you don’t want anyone taking care of you, but since I already established I’m not gonna stop, I have an idea.”

Grace sighed, but didn’t say anything, so Zoe took that as a sign to keep pushing on.

“You should stay with me for a while. I promise I won’t micro manage you or anything. Just make sure you aren’t alone in case something happens. Even you have to admit that it’d be better to have someone else there to call an ambulance if some kind of emergency happens instead having to try and do it yourself.”

Grace sighed again and didn’t reply for a bit. Then finally, she said, “Okay, so it’s not the worst idea.”

Zoe gave her a fake offended face.

“It’s a great idea, you jerk.”

Grace laughed a little.

“Okay, okay. If it’ll make you happy, I’ll stay with you. But only for like a week. If I haven’t had any issues by then, I’ll probably be fine for a while.”

Zoe smiled and nodded at her. “Deal.”

 

The next day, the two of them brought some of Grace’s stuff into Zoe’s place and got her settled in to the extra room before they had to go back to the club for work.

At the end of the night, they made their way back to Zoe’s loft and decided to settle into Zoe’s bed for a movie before they went to sleep.

They curled up under the blanket, sitting next to each other in the middle of the bed, probably closer than necessary considering the queen sized mattress. Part of Grace was extremely happy about this but the other part was beyond frustrated. Because every time Zoe shifted her position, part of her body would brush up against Grace and send chills across her skin. And whenever she turned her head slightly, Grace’s nose was filled with Zoe’s typical intoxicating scent of lavender and vanilla. And whenever Grace glanced at the other girl’s face, she wanted to grab it and kiss the shit out of her.

About halfway through the movie, Zoe made the whole situation much worse. She yawned and Grace noticed she started looking like she was nodding off. So Zoe’s logical choice was to lean her head on Grace’s shoulder and curl up against her.

As soon as Zoe’s head hit her shoulder, Grace held her breath, almost afraid to move in case it made Zoe decide to move as well.

After a few minutes, Zoe’s breathing started to become steady and Grace glanced down at her now-sleeping crush and let out a slow breath.

_Fuck. She’s asleep on my shoulder._

That was the only coherent thought her brain could form while she was breathing in the smell of Zoe’s hair and feeling Zoe’s arm against hers and her heart beat started picking up.

After a few minutes of recovering from her freak out, she sighed with a small smile and settled down against the pillows, leaning her head against Zoe’s.

As soon as she got comfortable, Zoe curled closer to her, wrapping her arm around Grace’s waist. Grace laid down a bit more and cautiously wrapped her arm around Zoe’s shoulders. When there was no reaction from the other girl, Grace relaxed and let herself enjoy the fact that she was actually cuddling with Zoe.

It didn’t take long for the combination of the butterflies in her stomach and Zoe’s smell surrounding her to lull her to sleep with a content smile on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [come talk to me i'm needy](http://whirlwindsofdisaster.tumblr.com)


	8. Take Control

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know it's been forever and I'm really sorry. I got a job and I've been busy either working or being too tired to do anything productive. But now that season 2 of Next Class is out, I've been inspired to work on the story again. This chapter contains lots of Triles smut. I'm not sorry.

Tristan woke up at home the day after the incident at the club with a pounding headache and a killer hangover. It was close to 1 in the afternoon when he became conscious and he instantly checked his phone, hoping to see some sort of message from Miles. But all that was waiting on his phone was a text from Zoe asking if he was doing okay. Then a second text from Zoe asking what happened when he disappeared to the bathroom for several minutes.

He sighed and tried not to let himself feel too disappointed as he let his head fall back on his pillow. He should've expected this from Miles. Despite the things he said to Tristan the night before, he was still Miles Hollingsworth, playboy millionaire. That wasn't going to change suddenly.

Tristan pulled himself out of bed, ignoring the pounding in his head and the empty ache in his stomach, partially from hunger and partially from Miles. He dragged himself into the kitchen to eat something then got started on going through the club paperwork.

 

The whole week passed without Tristan hearing anything from Miles. He didn't even show up Thursday night. This time, Tristan was almost convinced that he was avoiding him.

Then, finally, Miles called Tristan Saturday morning. Tristan made sure to let the phone ring a few times before answering and made sure his greeting was as cold as he could muster.

“Hey Tris,” Miles said softly, with way too much affection lurking in his tone.

Tristan almost immediately melted and couldn't even attempt to sound cold anymore.

“Hey. So... wanna explain where you were this week?”

“Not avoiding you, I swear.”

Tristan rolled his eyes and scoffed.

“That's not at all suspicious,” he replied with obvious sarcasm.

Miles sighed. “Okay, so maybe there was a bit of avoiding. I'm... not the best with feelings.

“Really?” Tristan said, cutting him off. “I had no idea.”

“Okay, can you calm the sarcasm for a minute and just let me finish?”

Now Tristan sighed and said, “Okay fine.”

“Thank you. Like I said, I'm bad with feelings. And I said a bit too much to you at the club the other night. I was drunk and pissed and it just kinda came out. So I got scared and backed off.”

“Look, I don't care. I'm not expecting you to be my boyfriend or whatever. You're a self-proclaimed playboy. If I could help it, I wouldn't even be interested in you at all.”

Miles snorted at that. “Thanks Tris.” He paused for a beat, then said, “Though I guess I can't blame you.”

Tristan sighed again. “So is there any reason you called me in particular?”

“Yes actually. I wasn't just avoiding you this week. I was also working constantly and I have something I wanna show you.”

“What, your dick?”

Miles laughed. “Only if you earn it. No, something else.”

“Can't you just tell me?”

“Can't you just be patient and come see it?”

The blond boy rolled his eyes but said, “Fine. Now?”

“Yes, now.” He put on his sweetest begging voice and added, “Please.”

“Okay, needy, I'll be there soon.”

“Cool. And if you're good, I might show you my dick too.”

Tristan could pretty much hear the wink in his voice, so he sighed and just said, “Bye Miles,” and ended the call.

 

In about an hour, Tristan found himself back in Miles' building, this time with completely empty offices. He made his way down the intimidating hallway towards the door to the CEO office and knocked on the door again, even though Miles was expecting him.

Miles called out “Come in,” so Tristan opened the big wooden door and took a step inside.

Tristan tried not to let his eyes rake over Miles' body, but he couldn't stop himself. His hair was ruffled and hanging over his forehead like he'd run his fingers through it a few too many times and his eyes looked tired but happy. He was more dressed down than Tristan had ever seen, wearing loose jeans and a tight blue t-shirt that showed off his toned arms and chest. Tristan hated how attractive this man was. Maybe if he weren't so hot, they wouldn't be in this situation.

Tristan finally managed to calm his hormones and said, “So was this some kind of master plan? Wait until your office is empty to call me in so you get me alone?”

The brunet laughed. “I mean, I'd be lying if I said the thought didn't cross my mind, but it wasn't my main reason. I just got to the point where I was okay with showing you this.”

He walked over the couch and started up the TV and one of his gaming systems without saying another word. Tristan quirked an eyebrow, but followed him anyway, taking a seat on the couch slightly too close to Miles.

Miles flashed a half smile at Tristan as their arms brushed up against each other, then focused on the screen again.

“So, what are you showing me?” Tristan asked after a beat.

“Hold on,” Miles replied with a smirk.

The menu screen from the game Miles showed Tristan last time he was in the office came up on the screen and Miles opened up to the game's map.

After a few minutes, he pulled up the part of town with Tristan's club in it, but this time it contained a very recognizable building.

Tristan felt a smile slowly spreading across his face. “You added the club.”

Miles nodded and navigated inside.

“I know it's not quite done, but it looks pretty good, right?”  
Tristan was smiling at the side of Miles' face, studying the proud look he had.

“It looks great, Miles.”

Miles looked over at the other young man and saw his soft smile, then almost immediately looked down. If he didn't know better, Tristan would be sure that he saw Miles' cheeks flush pink.

He recovered quickly, however, and focused his eyes back on the TV.

“Okay, now that your club is featured in this game, you should learn how to play it,” Miles said.

“Miles, I know absolutely nothing about video games!”

Miles looked over at Tristan with a small smile.

“So I'll teach you. Come on, Tris, have you ever even tried?”

Tristan sighed and shook his head.

“See? Just give it a shot.”

In the middle of his sentence, Miles stood up and walked over to the TV, grabbing another controller from the shelf underneath it and brought it back over to Tristan.

Once he was settled back on the couch, Miles went back to the menu and switched to two player mode then started the game.

“Okay, so basically, you're this super rich business man and you can buy as many things as you want, spend your money on whatever. Only thing is, you can also do a bunch of shitty things, like embezzling money or cheating people out of a contract or suing someone for a stupid reason. So it's basically a choice of whether you're going to be decent person or shit person. And if you decide to be a shit person, you'll probably end up with angry people and possibly cops after you.”

Tristan raised an eyebrow. “And people actually like this game?”

The brunet laughed. “Thanks for the great vote of confidence Tris. But yeah, they do. There's a deeper story under the surface, but you have to play through and pick the right path to get it.”

“So how does two player work on here?”

“You're either business partners, so you make choices together, or your rivals and decide whether to take the high road or the low one. I picked partners for us so I can show you how it works.”

A cut scene came on and Miles explained more of the game and helped Tristan make decisions. After about an hour or so, their virtual characters were running from the cops and getting shot at.

Tristan laughed and paused the game just as his character got shot.

“Okay, so maybe we should've made better choices,” he said.

Miles laughed and nodded. “But that's the fun of it. You get different results depending on your choices.”

Tristan set the controller down and leaned his head against the back of the couch.

“Must be a lot of work.”

“It is. But it's fun too. I mean, I obviously like it considering I just spent an hour playing it.”

The blond flashed a small smile at Miles and with a teasing tone, said, “I thought you just wanted to spend more time with me.”

Miles turned to face him and said, “Well that too.”

Tristan sat up and turned towards Miles too, and they both sat there in silence for a minute, not taking their eyes off of each other.

Their eyes both kept flicking to each others lips every now and then and Tristan's nose was filled with the thick scent of Ralph Lauren cologne again. They moved slightly closer to each other and the smell of the cologne started mixing with the smell of soap from Tristan's skin.

They were both still staring and now so close that their lips were almost touching.

“Are we going to do this all day,” Miles whispered, his lips just barely moving. “Or are you gonna kiss me?”

As soon as he said the last word, Tristan closed the small gap between them and collided their lips together.

Miles reached out and wrapped his arms around Tristan's neck, tangling his fingers up in bleached hair. Tristan also reached out and wrapped his arms around Miles' waist, pulling his body as close to him as possible.

Miles started leaning forward, pushing Tristan backwards until he was laying flat on the couch and started jutting their hips together and grinding slowly against Tristan.

Their tongues were tangled together and neither of them seemed to be too concerned about stopping to breathe.

The brunet pulled away just long enough to yank his shirt over his head and toss it to the floor, then pulled at the hem of Tristan's. Tristan leaned forward a bit and pulled his own shirt off, discarding it on the floor with Miles'.

They quickly crashed their lips together and started running their hands all over each others skin, tongues fighting for dominance and their hips grinding against each other.

Somewhere in the midst of this, Tristan got an idea and pulled away. Maybe it was his annoyance at Miles avoiding him multiple times or maybe he just wanted to know if Miles could ever give up control, but something made him say, “Have you ever had anyone tell you what to do?”

Miles pulled away and sat up with a confused expression. “I mean, my parents...”

Tristan laughed and sat up too. “Not what I meant.”

He cocked an eyebrow and smirked until realization spread across Miles' face.

“Um, not really.” A look of worry flashed across his face, but he disguised it quickly.

“That's what I thought.” Tristan was still smirking, almost devilishly, as he stood up and held his hand out to Miles. He grabbed it and let Tristan pull him up, still looking unsure.

“Haven't you ever wondered what it be like to give up control, just for a while?” Tristan asked, his hand still holding the other man's.

Miles shook his head. “I'm used to being in charge. It's what I'm good at.”

Tristan took a step closer to Miles and pulled his body against him by his waist. He jutted his hips against the brunet and heard a small moan slip out of Miles' lips.

He leaned in so his lips brushed against Miles' ear and whispered, “Come on. Let it go for once in your life. You might have fun.”

Miles felt goosebumps spreading all over his body at the feel of Tristan's breath on his neck. Then Tristan starting kissing his neck and he felt another moan slip out.

He continued speaking softly as he kissed and nibbled all over Miles' neck and chest.

“Just give a shot. For once. It's gotta be stressful, always being in charge of everyone.”

Miles let out a breathless sigh and pulled Tristan's face up to look at him.

“You just want to tell the biggest playboy in the city what to do. To know that you can make me weak.”

“Maybe,” Tristan said, leaning in to kiss Miles again. The kiss was quick and dirty, with them both biting at each others lips and grinding their hips together. When they pulled away, Tristan continued, “Is that so wrong?”

Miles shook his head slowly.

“You do, you know. Make me feel weak. In the best way possible.”

Tristan moved his mouth back down the other boy's neck and kissed it before whispering, “So is that a yes?”

“Guess it depends on what you want me to do,” he replied softly.

The blond moved his mouth back up to Miles' ear and whispered, “I want you to suck me off. Let me fuck your mouth until your throat is sore and I'm screaming.”

Miles felt a shiver spread across his body and his cock started grew painfully hard, straining against his jeans. He couldn't believe how much those words turned him on.

He couldn't force his mouth to form words, so he just nodded and let Tristan pull him over to the nearest wall.

Tristan leaned up against it and smirked at Miles as he got on his knees and unbuttoned Tristan's jeans slowly, staring up at his face the whole time.

He slowly pulled the jeans down and Tristan stepped out of them as Miles hooked his finger on the waistband of the other boy's boxers. He pulled them down to Tristan's ankles and focused in on his hard cock in front of his face.

He wrapped his hand around Tristan's length and started jacking him off slowly then leaned forward and licked at the precum dripping from the tip.

Miles looked up at Tristan's face and the blond shot an encouraging smile at him. That's all it took for him lean in closer and take the entirety of his shaft at once.

Tristan let out a strangled moan at the feeling, not quite expecting it, and his moaning only got louder as Miles started bobbing his head up and down, hollowing out his cheeks. Tristan felt his cock hit the back of Miles' throat and heard him gag slightly, then pulled back instantly.

“Sorry,” he said quickly.

Miles just smirked up at him.

“You're not doing a great job at taking control if you apologize for a little gagging. I can take it, trust me.”

Tristan raised an eyebrow and felt his dick grow slightly harder at that, but he still said, “Are you sure?”

The man sitting on his knees nodded, their eyes locked.

At that, Tristan took a step forward and turned Miles around, pushing his shoulders gently until they hit the wall.

Miles looked up at him, then took him in his mouth again, using his hand to jack off what his mouth wasn't covering.

Tristan looked down at him and let out a low moan at the sight of that beautiful mouth wrapped around his cock.

“Just let me know if you want me to stop,” Tristan said as he tangled his hand in Miles' hair and pulled slightly.

He moved his hips back and thrust into Miles' mouth as deep as he could, still pulling on his hair. Miles let out a small gag but grabbed onto Tristan's hips and locked eyes with him as a sign to keep going.

Tristan pulled back again and repeated the motion, smiling as his length disappeared into Miles' mouth. He continued thrusting into the brunet's mouth until his movements started become uneven and his knees went week.

“Fuck, Miles... I'm gonna come.” He pulled on Miles' hair, figuring he wouldn't want Tristan to come in his mouth, but Miles held still, hollowing out his cheeks and taking more of Tristan into his mouth.

Tristan smiled and kept his hand on Miles' head, no longer pulling at his hair, just letting his hand rest there as he slowed his thrusts.

Miles was doing most of the work now, bobbing his head on Tristan's cock and gripping his hips so hard he was sure they'd leave bruises.

Tristan was having trouble keeping himself standing and let out moans of “fuck” and “so good” and simply “Miles.”  
Finally Tristan tugged on Miles' hair as a warning and came into his mouth with a loud moan and a shiver that spread across his body.

Miles held still as Tristan rode out his orgasm, sucking down every last drop of come like it was water and he was lost in a desert.

After a bit, Tristan let out a breath and pulled his hand away from Miles and leaned them both against the wall, trying to steady himself.

Miles pulled himself up so he was standing in the space between Tristan's arms and the shorter boy leaned his head on Miles' chest with a sigh.

“Shit, Miles. That felt so good. You were so good.”

He lifted his head and gave Miles a tired smile that he returned instantly.

“You were right. That was fun.”

Miles pulled one of Tristan's hands off the wall and held it, pulling him over to the couch. He tripped up a bit from his boxers still sitting at his ankles, so he yanked them up and followed Miles.

They both collapsed on the couch, Tristan's body spread out on top of Miles.

Neither of them spoke for a while, instead just laid there and listened to each others breathing.

Then Miles broke the silence by saying, “So, is it my turn now?”

Tristan lightly slapped his bicep and shook his head.

“Maybe later.”

Miles sighed, but didn't protest. Instead, he just wrapped his arm tighter around Tristan's shoulder.

“Okay,” he said. “I can wait.”

After a few minutes, he heard Tristan's breathing fall into a steady rhythm and he glanced down at him with a small smile. Then, for some reason that he didn't quite understand at the time, Miles leaned forward and lightly kissed the top of Tristan's head, then settled back against the couch, trying to ignore the feeling starting to bubble up in his gut.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (also NEXT CLASS SEASON 2 SPOILER WARNING  
> triles had sex omgomgomgomgomgomg)


	9. Dance With Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you know, this was my first time writing F/F smut so please be nice! I feel like I did okay for the first time and I hope you enjoy it, even with its imperfections.

Saturday night came and Grace and Zoë made their way into the club a few minutes late. They were greeted in the dressing room by Tristan frowning at them.

“You're late,” he said in a slightly annoyed tone. “Did you lose track of time making out?”

Grace looked down at the floor, trying to disguise the deep red color growing on her cheeks as Zoë laughed lightly.

“Very funny, Tris,” Zoë said. “We were at dinner actually. And this one,” she slapped at Grace's arm, “couldn't decide where she wanted to eat.”

Grace looked up and turned to Zoë in mock offense. “Okay, when you offer to buy my dinner, I have to consider how much money I'm willing to let you spend on me!”

“Oh please, I would've flown you to Paris if you wanted.”

Tristan raised an eyebrow. “If you two are done bickering like an old married couple, could you please start getting ready?”

Zoë and Grace exchanged small smiles before nodding at Tristan, Zoë throwing an eye roll for good measure. He casually flipped her off as he walked past the girls and out of the dressing room and Zoë just chuckled at him.

Grace was already over in the corner changing when Zoë walked over, already pulling her shirt over her head. Like usual, Grace focused her eyes on the floor to avoid looking at Zoë's exposed torso and tried to slow her heartbeat.

Once the brunette was clothed again, Grace looked up at her.

“So, you'd fly me to Paris, huh?” she asked with a teasing smile.

“I just meant...” Zoë stuttered awkwardly. “You're my best friend. You know this. I just wanna make you happy. Besides, it was just an example.”

Grace laughed at the other girl's clumsy sentence, and then walked past her and over to a mirror. Zoë followed close behind and took the seat next to her.

“So, I've been thinking,” Zoë started while she swiped a brush across her eyelid. “We should come up with a routine together.”

Grace raised an eyebrow and pulled mascara away from her face to turn and look at the other girl.

“For what?”

“For the club, obviously! I've been thinking about it since I gave you that little dance lesson. I mean, guys love girl on girl right? We could drive them crazy.”

Grace turned back to the mirror and continued with her make up, not saying anything in return. Her stomach was churning and fluttering at the same time and her head was spinning. She could barely handle Zoë dancing near her. How could she deal with doing an entire routine, just the two of them?

Zoë finished putting on her lipstick and turned towards Grace.

“Well? What do you think?”

Grace absentmindedly looked at the other girl, instinctively brushing blush across her cheek.

“About what?”

“Doing a dance together, genius. Where are you right now?”  
Grace shook her head slightly and focused in on Zoë finally.

“Yeah, sorry, just lost in my head. Um, sure? I guess it could be fun.”

Zoë's face broke out into a huge smile and she stood up, grabbing Grace's hands and pulling her up too.

“Yay! It'll be so much fun, promise. Now come on, it's almost time to go out.”

Grace bit her lip as Zoë dragged her towards the curtain leading backstage. She didn't mean to say yes. She just didn't want to disappoint Zoë. As the announcement to start the show rang through the club, she let out a breath and tried to concentrate on her own dancing and not on Zoë's hips hypnotizing her.

 

The next morning, Zoë came barging into her guest room where Grace was sleeping at around 9 in the morning and shook Grace by her shoulder.

“Wakey wakey Gracey poo,” she said in a sing-song voice.

Grace responded by rolling over and pulling the sheet over her face.

The younger girl sighed and pulled at the sheet, exposing Grace to the light again.

She let out a sigh and rolled onto her back, glaring up at Zoë.

“What do you want?”

“I wanna work on our dance!” She grabbed Grace by the hand and started pulling, managing to get her sitting up.

Grace groaned and glanced at the clock, looking back at Zoë with an annoyed glare once she saw the time.

“Zoë, it is 9 AM. Let me sleep for 3 more hours then we'll talk.”

With that, she laid back down and curled up under the blanket again. Zoë sighed, but decided she could let her sleep a little longer. Then, for some reason she didn't totally understand yet, she sat on the edge of the bed next to Grace and watched her drift back to sleep. Once she was out again, Zoë leaned over her and ran her fingers through black hair a couple times, then gently kissed the top of her head.

 

At right around noon, Grace dragged herself out into the kitchen and started making coffee without saying anything to Zoë, who was sitting on the couch with a direct view into the kitchen.

“Morning sunshine,” Zoë called out to her with a touch of sarcasm.

“Yeah, thanks,” Grace said, leaning against the counter and waiting for the Keurig to finish pouring black liquid into her mug.

“Not a morning person?”

“You got that, huh?”

The black haired girl grabbed her coffee and stirred some sugar into it, then carried it over to the couch and sat next to Zoë.

“Okay, so let's talk about this dance now.”

Zoë practically squealed and jumped up, heading over to her book shelves to put on music.

“Why are you so excited about this?” Grace asked, taking a sip from her mug.

“Because I like choreographing. And I've never had a friend who worked at the club that I felt close enough to to ask about doing this with me.”

That made Grace go from frowning to letting a small smile slip onto her face.

“Well then, let's get started.”

Zoë smiled and started some music, then walked back over to the couch. She took the coffee out of Grace's hand and set the mug on the end table, then grabbed her now empty hand and pulled her up and towards the middle of the room.

“Okay,” she started, hand still latched onto Grace's. “I thought we could do something with a bit of a story behind it. We could be two strangers who just walked into a bar or a club or something and we see each other from across the room.”

Zoë let go of her hand then turned and walked to the other side of the room, then started slowly swinging her hips to the beat of the music.

“Then we both make our way to the dance floor and start dancing together.”

She moved her hips a bit faster, walking towards Grace at the same time. The older girl stayed frozen, watching Zoë with goosebumps rising on her skin. Zoë smiled at her and wiggled her finger at Grace in a “come here” motion. Grace followed her lead and started dancing slowly, moving towards the other girl.

“Then we meet in the middle,” they stopped in front of each other and Zoë reached out and grabbed Grace's hips, moving their bodies together in time to the beat, “and dance. Maybe tease each other a little. Very flirty and sexy.”

Zoë let go and turned around, dancing up against Grace's body. She moved Grace's hands to hold her hips and continued dancing, causing Grace to bite down on her lip to avoid letting out a sigh or a moan at the feeling.

“Then once the song is almost over,” Zoë continued, almost in a whisper. “We turn to face each other again,” she turned around and moved closer, so the girls' faces were just inches apart, “and as the song ends, lean in closer. And then...”

Grace held her breath as Zoë moved her face slightly closer, her eyes subconsciously beginning to drift shut, her senses drowning in the intoxicating scent of vanilla and lavender.

“Then the curtain goes down.” Zoë pulled back suddenly, her voice returning to a normal volume. “And all the guys go wild.”

As Zoë turned to go shut off the music, Grace let out the air she was holding in, debating whether to mad at Zoë or herself for what just happened.

The brunette looked back Grace again, then started walking towards her.

“Zoë,” she said, holding up a hand to stop her from walking too close. “What are you doing?”

Zoë stopped and gave her a confused look. “What are you talking about? I'm telling you my idea for the routine.”

“No you're not.” Grace took a breath. “First, you show me how to dance by basically seducing me and acting like nothing happened. Then you spend a night cuddling me. Now you dance up on me and almost kiss me. I don't care if we were working on the dance, it's obviously more than that. Are you just messing with me or what?”

Somewhere in the middle of the speech, Zoë started looking at the floor, trying to hide the guilt on her face. When Grace finished, she looked up at her again, the guilt still somewhat evident.

They were both silent for a beat, then Grace said, “Well?”

Zoë let a sigh, then took a couple steps to close the gap between the two of them and before Grace had a chance to react, she collided their lips together. The kiss was weird at first, with Grace staying completely still and not sure how to respond. It didn't take long, though, before she leaned into the kiss and wrapped her arms around Zoë's waist.

As soon as Grace grabbed onto her, Zoë reached up and held Grace's face in her hands, kissing her even harder. She licked along Grace's bottom lip and Grace granted her tongue entrance. Their tongues danced together and Grace's squeezed Zoë's hips tighter, pulling them against her own and grinding against her.

Zoë moved her hands around Grace's neck and tangled her finger up in long black hair. She nipped at Grace's lips before going back to exploring her mouth with her tongue, then started walking them backwards until Grace's legs hit the couch.

They collapsed down on the soft white surface and Zoë pinned Grace on the cushions with her body. The older girl ran her hands up Zoë's back, slipping one under her shirt. She only got to feel Zoë's skin for a second before the brunette sat up and pulled her shirt over her head, throwing it on the floor then connecting their lips again.

Grace wrapped her arms around Zoë again, running her hands all over the smooth skin of her back and down to her ass, grabbing at it and colliding their hips together.

Zoë let out a tiny moan and started kissing down Grace's neck, sucking slightly in different spots and kissing over others, causing Grace to let out her own moans.

They pulled apart long enough for Zoë to help Grace out of her own shirt and then Zoë quickly resumed her kisses along Grace's skin, moving her mouth across the older girl's collar bones and pushing her bra strap down to kiss towards her shoulder then back again.

Grace's hands were still grabbing onto Zoë's ass and she started to pull at the waistband of her skirt. Zoë pulled back and reached down to pull the skirt off, letting it land with their shirts.

Their lips joined again and Zoë slipped a hand between them and unbuttoned Grace's jeans quickly, sliding her hand inside on top of her underwear.

She ran her fingers over Grace's clit through her wet panties, causing Grace to let out a surprised noise that turned to a moan as Zoë repeated the motion.

Grace grabbed Zoë's arm and pulled her hand away, then turned them around so she was on top. She pulled away enough to yank her jeans down and off, then went back to kissing Zoë, pressing their hips together as much as possible.

Grace started to kiss down Zoë's neck, reaching under her and unhooking her bra then pulling it off. She tried not to stare too much and instead, returned to kissing down Zoë's body. She kissed one of her nipples, grabbing at it with her teeth gently and Zoë felt a shiver travel across her body. She kept trailing kisses across Zoë's torso until she reached the band of her underwear. She then left a light kiss on the outside of her underwear before hooking a finger under the waist band and pulling them down.

She left Zoë's panties at her knees, then licked gently over her clit, making Zoë shiver again. Grace couldn't stop from smiling as she licked at Zoë again, then gently sucked on her clit, making Zoë let out a moan and reach down to grab at Grace's hair.

Grace ran her hands over Zoë's thighs as she alternated between licking and sucking at her wet clit, enjoying the taste of her almost too much. She ran one of her hands further up on Zoë's thigh, brushing her fingers lightly next to her hole. Zoë groaned at the feeling and bucked her hips up just slightly, trying to get more friction. Grace pressed her face harder against Zoë and started to increase the pressure on her clit as she slipped two fingers into Zoë's hole and began fingering her slowly. Zoë started moaning louder and pulled at Grace's hair.

Zoë's body started shaking as Grace licked up every bit of her taste that she could. She pulled back and started playing with Zoë's clit with her tongue, fucking her with her fingers harder and faster. Zoë started moaning louder and almost pushed Grace's head closer to her, so Grace started sucking at her clit again without slowing her fingers.

Zoë was moaning and grabbing at the couch and shaking and she started murmuring, “Fuck, fuck, fuck, I'm coming,” pulling at Grace's hair again.

Grace didn't let up and kept eating her out and fingering her through her orgasm, finally stopping when Zoë relaxed against the couch and released her grip on Grace's hair.

“Fuck,” she whispered as Grace sat up and wiped off the cum on her chin. “Come here.”

The brunette reached up and wrapped her arms around Grace's neck, pulling her into another kiss, not minding the taste of herself on Grace's lips. Grace pulled out of the kiss and smiled at Zoë before laying her head against Zoë's shoulder.

Zoë started running her fingers through Grace's hair and let out a sleepy but content sigh. She started moving her other hand down Grace's body until she reached her panties. She slipped her hand underneath the fabric and ran her fingers over Grace's clit lightly, then a bit rougher, pinching it between her fingers.

Grace wrapped her arm around Zoë's waist as the other girl continued massaging her clit, switching between feather light touches and rough friction. Grace started moaning and felt herself growing wetter as Zoë moved her hand further between Grace's legs and slipped a finger inside her, moving it in and out slowly, still rubbing her clit between her middle and ring fingers. Grace tightened her grip on Zoë as she started fingering her faster and Grace's moans grew louder and more frequent.

She started trembling and buried her face into Zoë's shoulder, biting gently at Zoë's shoulder as she reached her climax.

Zoë pulled her finger out but kept rubbing along her clit while Grace came with a loud sigh. Grace relaxed against Zoë's body and the brunette pulled her hand away. She looked down at Grace with a smile then sucked her three fingers into her mouth, licking Grace's taste off of them.

Grace let out a softer sigh against Zoë's skin as Zoë wrapped an arm around Grace's shoulder. Then they stayed there wrapped up together without saying a word for nearly an hour, drifting in and out of sleep contently.

When they finally pulled away from each other and got off of the couch, Zoë's entire demeanor completely changed. She refused to look at Grace as she pulled her clothes back on and headed towards her room.

“We have to get ready for work,” she said quickly, while disappearing into the hall.

“Zoë, what...” But she was gone before Grace could finish her sentence.

 

The ride to work was taken in complete silence. Grace attempted to start up a conversation multiple times, but gave up when she only received one or two word answers.

When they got to the club, Zoë rushed inside ahead of Grace and straight into the dressing room without even pausing to say hi to Tristan.

Grace followed a minute later and Tristan lightly grabbed her arm to stop her.

“What's up with Zoë?” He asked with a worried look.

“Good question,” Grace answered, sighing and running her fingers through her hair.

“Did something happen?”

“I mean, kind of. But she was fine after.” Grace's voice got quieter until she was basically talking to herself. “At least for a while. She didn't start acting weird until we got up...”

Tristan raised his eyebrows and his jaw practically dropped. He held up a hand to stop her then said, “Wait, 'got up?'” He broke out into a smile. “Did you guys do something?”

“We sort of screwed around... or had sex. I'm not sure what qualifies as sex with a girl...”

“Oh my god, Grace! That's huge.”

“Yeah except now she's not talking to me or anyone.”

“Okay, well it was her first time with a girl. Maybe she's just freaked?”

Grace sighed. “Yeah maybe...”

“Just go get ready and try talking to her after the show?”

She nodded and gave him a small smile, then walked back to the dressing room to start getting ready.

 

They rode back to the apartment in silence, Grace no longer feeling like trying for conversation and Zoë disappeared into her room as soon as they were inside.

The next day, Grace pulled herself out of bed a little before 9. She'd spent most the night trying unsuccessfully to sleep and finally just decided to give up.

When she entered the living room, she saw Zoë curled up in a chair, eyes looking down at her phone.

She took in a deep breath and said, “Zo... we need to talk.”

“I don't want to,” Zoë replied, not looking up.

“I don't care!” Grace yelled, surprising herself. “You can't just... do what we did then freeze me out. It's not fair and I don't deserve it.”

Zoë sighed and lifted her eyes to look at Grace. That's when Grace saw the tears in the corners of her eyes.

“Zoë...” Grace's tone immediately softened when she saw the other girl's face. “What's going on?”

“I can't do this, Grace! I can't like you!” She felt the tears escape her eyes and start running down her face.

“Why not?” Grace was almost whispering now, wanting to take a step closer, to comfort Zoë, but not sure if she should.

“Because I just can't. I can't be gay.”

“You can't help it if you are, though.”

“I can try!” Zoë yelled, her tears falling faster now.

Grace abandoned her worry and went over to Zoë, leaning on the floor next to her chair and grabbing her hand.

“Why can't you be gay Zoë?”

“Because my mom will hate me, okay?” She dropped her volume and whispered, “I'll hate me.”

“Zoë...”

“My mom's catholic. I was raised catholic. She wasn't supposed to have a gay daughter. I've already disappointed her enough. I can't do that to her too.”

“She can't control who you are, Zo. No one can. If you're gay, no one can do anything about it.”

Zoë sighed and nodded slowly.

“I guess I know that. It's just... hard. And confusing. I like you, Grace. I think I have since we first met. I just don't know how to deal with it. I don't know how to be happy with myself if I am gay.”

Grace shifted off of her knees so she was sitting on the floor. She still hadn't let go of Zoë's hand.

“So, I'll be here. I'll help you. We can stay just friends. We can figure out how to deal with this. Together.”

Zoë looked down at Grace with a small smile.

“Promise?”

Grace smiled back at her and nodded.

“Promise.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I finally figured out how to type Zoë's name correctly! I considered going back through the whole thing and fixing it but that is way too much work, so you'll just have to settle for me trying to remember how to do it for the rest of the story.

**Author's Note:**

> [yo.](http://whirlwindsofdisaster.tumblr.com)


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